LASU clarifies the rumours on reinstatement of a sacked Lecturer

The attention of the University Management has been drawn to a publication in some online platforms with the above headline. The story reported that "Justice Maureen Esowe of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Division, on Thursday, ordered the Lagos State University and its Governing Council to reinstate a lecturer, Dr Ebarefimia Udegbe, to the post of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Management Science."

The release further said that "The judge also ordered that Udegbe be paid her salary differential with effect from the period of her demotion to the position of Lecturer One to the effective date of her dismissal as well as all her salaries and entitlements from September 2017 when she was dismissed unlawfully on allegations which turned out to be false." We hereby state that this report is inaccurate, a misrepresentation of the facts of the matter, misleading, and should therefore be disregarded.

As a matter of fact, the Honourable Justice Nelson Ogbuanya, Justice of the National Industrial Court delivered a judgement regarding the Suit NO: NICN/LAS/596/2017 - Dr. Udegbe Scholastica Ebarehmia vs Lagos State University & ORS ruled in favour of the Lagos State University that her dismissal in 2017 following a case of alteration of marks followed due process, amongst others. In addition to this, there were other cases in court which had not been concluded. We wish to further place on record that Dr. Udegbe wrote letters of appeal which the Management considered and magnanimously took to the University Senate. Both parties eventually reached an out-of-court settlement following the recommendations of an ad-hoc Committtee of the University Senate, which was approved by the University Governing Council on this case and the other cases in court.

The terms of the out-of-court settlement were agreed to and signed off by both parties and eventually submitted to the court for adoption, effectively putting an end to the case in the court. We were, therefore, dismayed to see reports of her victory in the court as published by the online platforms and are therefore compelled to set the record straight. For the avoidance of doubts, Dr. Udegbe withdrew the said case from the court and reached an out-of-court settlement with the university, and there is evidence to prove this. We urge our media friends to endeavour to get the correct position on issues that relate to the university to avoid misleading the public, as is sometimes the case.

Signed:

Oluwayemisi Thomas-Onashile Coordinator, Centre for Information and Public Relations Lagos State University.