?Bemoan culture of impunity creeping into university system

The worst fears of core educationists that the rampant impunity, which characterises and dominates other spheres of Nigerian life will soon become the norm in tertiary institutions, appear to be well founded. With what concerned stakeholders have described as recent anomalies in the appointment of Vice Chancellors of some universities, the conclusion is that if such ugly trends are not frontally addressed, Nigerian tertiary institutions could lose whatever is left of their image. Crux of the issue is the role of some actors who have said to have vested interest in ensuring their proxies are placed at the helm of the system of university admission.

With this ?garrison? mindset, simple and straight forward processes guarded by time-honoured rules and procedures are suddenly thrown overboard. For the objective of the vested interests to be achieved, logic is twisted and the defining procedures upended. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this disturbing trend reared its head at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, the University of Abuja and at the Federal University of Health Sciences, Oturkpo, Benue State, where various acts of impunity later resulted in the President?s dissolution or sack of key officials. In UNIABUJA, the Governing Council attempted to push through the appointment of a Vice Chancellor who did not have the required five years post professorial experience. The issue sparked off protests, which did not subside until the dissolution of the Governing Council by President Tinubu and the subsequent removal of the Vice Chancellor.

As the dust was still settling on those cases, a similar story of impunity and circumvention in the appointment of due process in the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of Admiralty University of Nigeria, Ibusa, Delta State, came to the fore. It was learnt that the university found itself in the national spotlight over attempts to ditch merit in the selection of a new Vice Chancellor. The Guardian found that to get the most qualified candidate for the role, the services of KPMG, the globally renowned management consultancy firm was procured by the university. That exercise cost taxpayers the princely sum of N25million. At the conclusion of the rigorous selection process, Professor Lucian Obinna Chukwu, a Professor of Marine Biology and current Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Management Services at the University of Lagos, emerged the top candidate with a score of 83.41 percent.

However, in a surprising move, which has left core university administrators baffled, the top scorer was bypassed without any justification, while Professor Ogbogbo Christopher of the Department of History at the University of Ibadan who came second in the selection exercise was announced as the new Vice Chancellor. To worsen matters, the announcement of Ogbogbo was made after a Governing Council meeting, which was neither summoned nor attended by the Pro-Chancellor of the University, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, a former Chief of Naval Staff.

A press release circulated on Whatsapp and e-signed by the Registrar of the institution had announced that the Governing Council of the institution appointed Professor Bankole Ndubisi Ogbogbo as its substantive Vice-Chancellor. The statement said the decision was made at its extraordinary meeting held on 28th February, where Professor Ogbogbo emerged as the successful candidate. The statement said the appointee received 9 out of 15 votes from the Council members. The statement also noted that Ogbogbo was selected from a shortlist of three highly qualified candidates. Interestingly, the statement did not give any indication as to why the top performer in the selection exercise was sidelined in the final appointment.

However, when The Guardian contacted the university?s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Rear Admiral Dele Ezeoba (rtd), he dismissed the announcement made by the Registrar. Referring to Section 6(8) of the university?s enabling law, he said the institution?s Registrar had no power to convene a Governing Council meeting or announce the appointment of a Vice Chancellor. The section is explicit as it states: ?The meeting of the Council shall be called by the Chairman or the Chairman upon the receipt of a request to hold a meeting in writing by at least five members of the Council, specifying in their letter, the business to be considered, and the Chairman shall summon the meeting within 28 days of the request.? Section 6 (9) of the Establishment Act goes on to state that where the Chairman of the Governing Council fails or neglects to summon a meeting as specified in subsection 8, ?the Registrar shall within 14 days cause a meeting of the Council to be convened for the purpose contained and specified as business to be considered in the request and no other business than those specified in the request shall be considered in the meeting.?

Stakeholders have made it clear that by virtue of the provision, it is evident that the Council meeting summoned on February 28, which was the basis for the selection of Professor Ogbogbo, and the announcement by the Registrar, is illegal and did not follow the due process of the law. The Governing Council Chairman has also been emphatic that he received no request for a meeting. The Council Chairman similarly stressed that the Registrar has no authority or powers to make the announcement of Prof. Ogbogbo as Vice Chancellor. The former Chief of Naval Staff, condemned any attempt to drop the best performing candidate, noting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had made it clear that the leadership of the nation?s tertiary institutions should be based on merit.

His words: ?What they have done is shenanigans; the Registrar has no power to announce the appointment of a VC. The other question is; who is supposed to chair the Council meeting, is it not the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council? They did that illegal meeting at my back. We contracted KPMG for this process, and the person who scored the highest is the same person KPMG ranked as the first. He is the current DVC for Management Services at the University of Lagos.? The university?s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council said if the plan was not to pick the highest performing candidate, it was of no use paying millions to get the services of KPMG to conduct due diligence on the applicants for the post.

The Guardian also contacted the Registrar, Isaac Mankilik who denied that merit was ditched in the selection process. He said: ?When you start that process, you advertise. And when you advertise, you will draw up a shortlist. And then, you will invite the short-listed persons for interview. The Governing Council of the University will usually set up what they call a Joint Selection Board to interview the short-listed candidates. That is what the law says and, in that Board, you will have the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education there to observe the process and a member of the Federal Character Commission. We followed all these,? he said. He said the best practice was to select any of the three shortlisted candidates as there was no law or regulation compelling the institution to select the highest performer among the three candidates shortlisted.

In another twist described by stakeholders as a volte face, the Federal Ministry of Education recently issued a statement to endorse the appointment of Ogbogbo as the VC of ADUN. The statement dated March 5 and signed by the ministry?s Director of Press and Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo stated that following a thorough review of the selection process, and subsequent ministerial intervention and in line with the Federal Government?s commitment to merit and fairness, that the Ministry had confirmed Professor Ogbogbo as the most eligible candidate for the position of substantive Vice Chancellor of ADUN.

The statement added:? Additionally, the Federal Ministry of Education has equally noted the declassification of the Council?s 21st Extraordinary Meeting Report of 26th and 27th February, 2025 which is designed to promote full transparency. The Federal Ministry of Education wishes to reiterate that it remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding due process, fairness, and merit in its supervisory responsibility. The Ministry affirms that this appointment by the Governing Council of ADUN aligns with the provisions of the Admiralty University of Nigeria (Establishment) Act 2022 and other extant provisions regulating the affairs of the University.?

According to the profile on its website, the main campus of the University is located on 100 hectares of land at Ibusa ? Ogwashi-Uku Expressway, Delta State, about 20km from Asaba, the Delta State capital. The University also has another campus located on 203 acres of land at the existing site of the Nigerian Navy Engineering College, in Sapele (Sapele Local Government Area). Both campuses of the University are well developed for academic activities.

The university, which has the motto: ?Excellence in Education? says it core ethos derives from the commitment to professionalism by every member of its academic and administrative community. It also stressed its dedication to serve in the tradition of the Nigerian Navy. However, with the loud complaints that it sidestepped due process and the controversy thrown up by its VC selection process, there will remain worries among stakeholders that such a tainted and ?captured? process, notwithstanding the endorsement of the Ministry of Education, may not augur well for the leadership selection in Nigeria?s ivory towers. (The Guardian)

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