Meet Sanwo-Olu’s Trusted Men Fashioning Out Funding For Lagos Universities

Lagos state under the administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu has initiated a major move to stay ahead of issues regarding funding and inherent challenges associated with the operations of its tertiary institutions.

This is in the face of the fact that undergraduates at the Lagos State University, University of Education, and University of Science and Technology are unaffected by the over seven months payment related strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that has kept students in other tertiary institutions at home.

Sticking to the proactive module of staying ahead, the Lagos state government wants to set up an additional source of funding to further protect students by ensuring unbroken operations at the state-owned universities SocietyNow.Ng learned.

The Sanwo-Olu administration wants to put in place a Lagos Education Trust Fund to complement the monthly subventions and intervention funds from federal education agencies, including Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

SocietyNow.Ng learned that because of the importance attached to setting up what is planned to be an autonomous funding channel, the Governor has deployed two very trusted “parts” of his administration to fashion how the Lagos Trust Fund will operate backed with legal instruments.

The trusted men are Tokunbo Wahab, the Special Adviser on Education described by Sanwo-Olu as “a great addition to the journey of improving a greater Lagos,… a strong resource to all of us in the cabinet” when he celebrated his 50th birthday on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, and Moyosore Jubril Onigbanjo, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria appointed the Attorney General of Lagos state on August 22, 2019.

Wahab who is fondly called “TW” like Onigbanjo is also a lawyer.

A former student union leader Wahab an Alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Wharton University of Pennsylvania first studied law at the University of Benin where he was the president of the Law Students Union, while Onigbanjo studied law at the University of Ilorin but got his LLB Hons degree from Obafemi Awolowo University. The attorney in 2017 went to Harvard Law School for two Executive Courses on Negotiation and Leadership and thereafter, Difficult Conversation.

While 57yr old Onigbanjo horned his legal skills at Akin Delana & Co, became an associate with Professor A.B Kasumu and was appointed a Notary Public on March 31, 2001, the Special Adviser – with his fingerprints on many educational initiatives by the Sanwo-Olu administration – began his legal flight at Paul Usoro (SAN) & Co and Aluko & Oyebode and was a partner at Wall and Ace before his present appointment.

SocietyNow.Ng gathered stakeholders have labeled both of them “more than able to get the task of fashioning out the Lagos Education Trust Fund task done”