Running the Federal University Oye-Ekiti

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Part V deals with reflection, transition and legacy, and consists of three chapters. The first, Chapter 12, is an account of the emergence of the fifth Vice-Chancellor; Chapter 13 reveals Fasina through the eyes of others and Chapter 14 discusses leadership principles for the next generation. Part VI presents documentary records and attachments. This part consists of four invaluable appendices. Appendix A is the author's vision for FUOYE (2021 – 2026). Appendix B is the author's inaugural speech as Vice-Chancellor. Appendix C is the author's speech on “FUOYE: Progress, challenges & strategic imperatives.” Appendix D is a selection of photographic documentation of the author's experiences.  

Each of the book's fourteen chapters is anchored to an appropriate biblical verse or suitable proverb. For example, Chapter 1 opens with Jeremiah 1:5 which says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart.” This signals that Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina was a child of destiny. This played out even with where he was born. On pages 3 to 4, he wrote: “I was born in 1961 in Lagos, a city that does not raise the faint-hearted. Lagos was relentless, demanding, and often unforgiving, yet it was also endlessly instructive. … Looking back now, I understand that Lagos did not merely shape my childhood, it shaped my temperament. It prepared me for conflict without aggression, for competition without bitterness, and for endurance without despair.”

Chapter 3 is anchored to Joshua 24:15 (NIV) which states: “But as for me and my household, we shall serve the LORD.” The chapter, among others, provides insight into a marriage founded on faith. Moreover, Chapter 5 is anchored to Isaiah 43:2 (ESV), and states: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.” As he has categorically declared, this divine assurance has been Professor Fasina's strength during his vicissitudes of office as Vice-Chancellor, and the experience has made him the life coach on leadership he has become.

In fact, on page 63, he remarked: “The counsel I offer any leader is simple: expect the storm before it gathers, prepare your heart before the wind rises, and steady your convictions before clouds appear.  … Great leaders brace themselves early. They recognise that storms do not announce themselves; they come silently, and sometimes they come from the very companions who once cheered you.” Chapter 4 is anchored to the African proverb, “When the roots of a tree begin to decay, it spreads death to its branches.” This anchorage underscores the primacy of having solid beginnings. 

The value of such beginnings is shown in the easy-to-attest-to infrastructural development of FOUYE. I have been to this university before close to its beginnings, and I can easily confirm how different the university now looks. Solid beginnings have also accounted for the remarkable expansion of FUOYE's academic programmes, as Professor Fasina details in this compendium of achievements. I can further confirm how the university has gained impressive attraction to both applicants and their parents.  

Reading the book for this review, two questions kept nagging. The first is “Why should one man suffer so many vicissitudes in his attempt to offer his service to a university?” The second is “Why should FUOYE's Vice-Chancellors have rocky tenures?” Providing answers to these questions which the book raises or helps to raise is one of the invaluable services the author has provided to FUOYE and the Nigerian university system in general. Before reading this book, there was a university which was known for discomfiting its Vice-Chancellors. Now, FUOYE seems to carry the trophy.   

In the book, Professor Fasina tells a range of stories of treachery, deceit, betrayal and survival.  I noticed in the author's style restrained pugilism, marked by cryptic acronyms and pseudonyms which carry remarkable innuendo force. It is difficult to read this book without feeling empathy for Professor Fasina, and he has himself drawn a catalogue of empathisers, sympathisers and destiny helpers to whom he has expressed deep appreciation in Chapter 8, in particular. This is important, because our experience as a nation has shown that you can never take a sense of gratitude for granted.

Quite notable is Professor Fasina's adulation of his wife, Dr. Bosede Fasina, an Associate Professor, in Chapter 6. On page 75, he anchored the chapter to Proverbs 18:22 which states: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord.” Professor Fasina also said about her on page 76: “Marriage to her has been more than companionship, it has been a covenant and a classroom. She has refined me in ways no institution could. … She possesses the deeper kind of wisdom that only heaven gives, the kind that builds homes, sustains faith, and keeps hearts steady when the earth shakes.” On page 77, he noted as follows about her support in one of his moments of tribulation: “She shielded our home from chaos. She gathered the children and said, 'We will stand with your father, for truth will not bow to lies.'” 

This book is cathartic; it helps to relieve pain and thereby naturally bring comfort. But having this value is the reason to expect the book to attract rejoinders, some driven by the schadenfreude spirit of seeking joy through the misfortune of others. Some rejoinders, on the other hand, published or not, may likely derive from the genuine desire to know.

The role of a Governing Council is to help a Vice-Chancellor to fulfill the vision they drew while seeking office and not to be an intrusive, over-bearing and discomforting Sergeant-Major. In this regard, Professor Fasina was lucky to have had Dr. Mohammed Yahuza, from Yobe State, as his first Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council on assuming office and to have had Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, from Cross River State, in the VC's turbulent times in office. On page 94 of the book, Professor Fasina described Dr. Yahuza as “one of the destiny helpers God positioned to defend my calling, uphold fairness, and ensure that justice triumphed over manipulation,” and on page 85, he described Senator Ndoma-Egba, SAN, as “a shepherd sent by grace.”

At a time when religious bigotry is undermining university administration in different locations in Nigeria, Professor Fasina's appreciation and accommodation of religious diversity cannot be taken for granted. In fact, with respect to Professor Bolanle Tajudeen Opoola, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Sunday Fasina said on page 90: “His Muslim faith reflects in his discipline, honesty, and depth of character. I respect him profoundly; indeed, I doff my hat to him. He is responsible, reliable, coordinated, and above all, incorruptible. If I were to count three or four men who stood firm through the storms of our administration, he would be among them.”

One of the challenges we have as a society is the inadequate documentation of our history. In writing this book on running FOUYE as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Fasina has made available, to posterity, a wealth of institutional memory, a remarkable landmark and an invaluable roadmap. Indeed, the book is a priceless resource for those aspiring to be Vice-Chancellors or those who are already holding the position, but wish to renew their insights for better service delivery. It would also be of immense worth for drawing strategic plans, especially for new or young universities.

At the general level, the book sensitises the reader to those factors which can make the steering of the ship of a university quite hazardous. It is, truly, a treasure trove of how grace overwhelms, and how when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I therefore commend the book to academics, educational administrators and the general reader who has a keen interest in the Nigerian university system.

For the author, Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina, the fourth substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, “'All's well that ends well,' [as the peacock said] when he looked at his tail.”