Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello Emerges New LASU VC

By Adedapo Adesanya

Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello has been appointed as the ninth substantive Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Lagos State University (LASU), putting an end to the institution’s leadership crisis, which started this year.

Prior to the expiration of Mr Olarewaju Fagbohun, the institution’s eighth VC, whose tenure expired on January 11, the state’s premier university had been in crisis, which spurred Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to cancel a previous appointment procedure in response to petitions.

According to an earlier statement, “After a thorough evaluation and investigation of the various complaints, Mr Governor, in his capacity as the Visitor to the university, ordered the cancellation of the process.”

A few months later, the Governor inaugurated a 13-member governing council for LASU, following the report of a special panel constituted to resolve the crisis that was holding the appointment of the varsity’s 9th vice-chancellor.

Now, the appointment of Mrs Olatunji-Bello has heralded a new dawn in the state-owned university.

The new LASU VC attended the University of Ibadan (UI) from 1982 to 1985 where she bagged a BSc in Physiology.

In 1987, she was awarded MSc (Physiology) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). In 1998, she bagged a PhD in Physiology after a six-month research training at the University of Texas Health Science Center in the US, 1994.

She rose from an assistant lecturer (1988 to 1991), lecturer II (1991 to 1996), lecturer I (1996 to 1999), and senior lecturer (1999 to 2005) to become an associate professor (2005 to 2007) at the College of Medicine in UNILAG.

The academic assumed duty as the first professor of physiology at the LASU College of Medicine in October 2007.

She also held several professional and administrative positions both at UNILAG and LASU. Until her election as the first female deputy vice-chancellor of LASU, she was the first substantive head of the Department of Physiology at LASU.

She is a member of many professional bodies and was the first female second vice president, Physiological Society of Nigeria (PSN), and the first vice president. She is also the first female to hold that position up to the year 2019.

She is married to Mr Tunji Bello, the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources and they have three children.