In one fell swoop, the Federal Government sacked 13 vice chancellors (VCs), provoking a debate about the propriety of the action. Some academics are calling for their reinstatement, but ASUU and Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu think otherwise.
On February 12, the Federal Government sacked 13 vice chancellors (VCs).
Twelve of the VCs were from the universities established by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011 and 2013. The 13th, Prof Ado Tenebe, was the VC of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
The VCs’ sack removal and replacement of the vice chancellors did not go down well with the academic community, which is concerned about government’s action on university autonomy. Last Wednesday, some civil society organisations protested at the National Assembly that most of the new VCs appointed as replacements are from the North.
Many academics, especially from the universities where the VCs were sacked, declined comment. However, those who spoke expressed divergent views. While some condemned the government’s action, others backed it.
Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh, said the appointment or sack of a VC is the responsibility of the governing council.
Jimoh called for the reinstatement of the VCs, urging the government to allow for due process.
“The one empowered to hire and sack VCs is the university’s governing council and every university has its own law and procedure. The rule of law should take its course and due process should be followed.
“Unless the law gives the government such power, which I doubt, I do not think the Federal Government has the power to sack VCs. Although what happened has happened, we want the VCs to be restated and the correct and right thing should be done”, he said.
A teacher at the Faculty of Education, Lagos State University (LASU), Adewale Noah, also believes that the VCs would be reabsorbed.
“Let government do whatever they want to do; those vice chancellors are coming back because it is not the government that appointed them. Quote me, the matter has not yet ended; more trouble is still coming,” he said.
Prof Francis Ezeonu, VC, Hezekiah University, a private university in Umudi, Imo State, faulted the government for taking the decision without consulting widely with stakeholders, especially the Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVCs).
“This shows government’s poor handling of issues. I believe the Federal Government also failed to make wider consultation with key decision makers particularly the Committee of Vice Chancellors so that it can be advised more appropriately.
“It is even more embarrassing that some of those universities have already declared vacancies for the vice chancellors’ position and government should therefore have allowed due process to take place. It is a rape of the law setting up those institutions,” he said.
The CVCs believes that the matter was not properly handled because it was made to imply that the VCs were all sacked when most had handed over having ended their tenure.
CVCs Secretary-General, Prof Michael Faborode, said in an email that the act was demoralising for the VCs after working so hard. He added that many of the universities’ governing councils, before they were dissolved, had started the process of appointing new VCs.
“The CVCs re-affirms that eight of the VCs had completed their tenure of five years, hence it was needless to talk of ‘sacking’ and highly demoralizing and de-motivating when they had only one day left in office, as if that was the greatest problem confronting higher education in Nigeria. Many of them had held their convocation ceremonies, after having laid good foundations for the institutions.
“Just as for appointment, removal of VCs, and only for just causes, should also follow due process and the law. These are not trivial matters, and they are at the heart of good governance of universities,” he said.
But, a lecturer in the department of Urban and Regional Planning FUTMinna, Mr Samuel Medayese, said the government could sack the VCs because the idea of autonomy remains a theory in Federal Universities.
He said most activities – from admission of students and the fees charged, to the employment of workers and appointment of VCs – have always had the influence of government.
Medayese also questioned how the VCs were appointed.
“The VCs that were sacked were appointed by the previous Federal Government and if they are sacked by the same government, then I guess they are on course. We need to look into the issue to see if they passed through the screening mechanism or if they were imposed on these institutions,” he said.
A lecturer at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), said he was not surprised by the sack, which affected his own VC, Prof Isaac Asuzu, who he said was handpicked by Prof Chinedu Nebo to replace him (Nebo) after he was appointed Minister.
He said: “The removal of Prof. Asuzu as our VC did not come as a surprise because presently we have no governing council in place.
“Besides, that tenure did not belong to Prof. Asuzu but to his predecessor, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who was appointed Minister of Power by the former President.
“Prof. Nebo had barely spent a year in office before his appointment as Minister and he nominated Prof. Asuzu who was his protégé at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he (Nebo) had served as VC.
“It is not true that Prof. Asuzu still had two or more years to spend. He was only completing the term of Prof. Nebo due to end in 2016.
“But that does not mean that what the Federal Government did was right and lawful. They ought to have waited for the constitution of a new governing council before sacking the last VC.
“You know each university has its edict which regulates the manner of appointment and removal of principal officers including the VC.”
However, there is no law establishing the universities. This may have hamstrung ASUU national leadershi from reacting swiftly.
Reacting last Tuesday, ASUU President, Prof Nasir Fagge, said the union had been calling for the law establishing the universities to be gazetted, but it was not done until Jonathan left office. Without a law, he said the union could not condone illegality. He, however expressed concern about the implication of the sack on due process, university autonomy and the growth of universities given that it has followed the same process – executive fiat. He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to enure the right thing is done.
He said: “ASUU, way back in 2011 condemned the manner in which the new universities were established through executive fiat by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. For upward of four years, the laws establishing these universities were not gazetted. All our entreaties to make government correct this anomaly fell on deaf ears.
“The latest development in these universities has justified our consistent demand for proper governance structures and processes in the Nigerian university system. In the first place, Vice Chancellors were arbitrarily appointed into these institutions and governing councils instituted without making the enabling laws public.
“We are worried that the same circle of illegality is playing out again. In a university where there is the law, only the governing council is empowered to remove a Vice Chancellor from office ‘for a good course’ and only a council has the power to appoint a Vice Chancellor in accordance with the law.
“We therefore call in the Federal Government to tow the path of legality and due process by gazetting the law, appointing the council and mandating the councils to immediately commence the process of appointing the Vice Chancellors for the affected universities.”
ASUU president said since the NOUN VC had spent more than the five year tenure for VCs stated in the law, his removal could not be faulted.
Former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola, supports ASUU position about the need for the Federal Government to follow due process.
He said: “ For the others who had not completed their terms and even for the replacement of those who have, it is in the true spirit of university tradition to allow due process of appointment to be made. This means allowing Council to do its work of advertisement, interview of/interactive session with shortlisted candidates and appointment of the best candidate. The Jonathan administration erred in short-circuiting this process in the appointment of the foundation VCs for the 12 new federal universities.
“Unfortunately, this error is again repeated. It is obviously unnecessary to do so. Only in mathematics do two negatives make a positive. Here, two wrongs do not make a right.”
Those calling for the reinstatement of the VCs may have have lost the battle.
Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu said government would not reverse its decision adding:
“Do you reverse government decision simply because somebody has criticized them?” he asked. “I don’t think there is any decision of government not going down well with everyone in the country.
“The ministry has received communications from some people who feel like this and we are looking at this. What I am saying is that they have already written to us. We are looking into their complaints. We will reply them.”
