Pursuant to the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No.11 of 1993 as amended by Decree No.25, 1996 and further amended in 2003 and 2012 respectively and other agreements as contained in the 2009 FGN-Staff Union Agreement, the Governing Council of the University of…”
Whenever one sees the above statement, we know the office of the vice chancellor (VC) of the university in question is about to become vacant. But as most of us are aware, the appointment of a vice chancellor, as “simple” as it may look, has all the trappings of the Nigerian scenario rolled up in one. From the traditional ruler of the host community, chancellor and pro chancellor to the state governor and presidency, the “competition” is often stiff.
In some cases, it is not always the best qualified candidate that is selected because politics and ethnicity play a fundamental part. Except for some of the VCs of the new varsities established during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, most, if not all are often indigenes of where the varsity is located.
It was reported last month that lecturers under the aegis of the Cross River Northern Senatorial Zone Academics at the University of Calabar, Cross River State wrote a letter to the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, titled: “The vice-chancellorship of the University of Calabar – Justice for the Northern Senatorial Zone.” With this letter, they have succeeded in adding another twist to an already complex selection process.
In the letter, they raised “the alarm” over plans to sideline candidates from the region for the position of the institution’s vice-chancellor. The tenure of the incumbent vice-chancellor, Prof. James Epoke, expires in December 2015.
The lecturers are towing this line because they claim the senatorial district has not produced any VC since the inception of the university in 1975. The letter signed by the chairman and secretary of the body, Prof. Edde Iji and Dr. Liwhu Betiang respectively said the move to raise the bar on the requisite experience of eligible candidates from five to ten years was to sideline contestants from the northern district.
”While it is an established academic tradition that whoever is to be considered as the vice-chancellor must be a professor, the details of years of experience as one and other prerequisite are drawn by the governing council, taking into cognisance the peculiarity of the university. It is for that reason that the years of experience as a professor for appointment of vice-chancellor vary from university to university. Thus, in the University of Calabar, it has ranged from five to seven with the present vice-chancellor being seven as professor as of the time of his appointment in 2010.” The letter read in part.
This is where we are today. But it got me thinking how we arrived at this state where academics who are supposed to be global citizens in outlook suddenly become clannish in disposition. Is it politics or our unique environment that oftentimes constructs, or deconstruct, the way we reason? What has zone, state of origin, ethnicity or religion got to do with academic excellence?
I recall that most of the vice-chancellors that were appointed before we arrived at this sorry state served outside their states of origin and they did well. The list includes Prof. Akinkugbe, a Yoruba who served as the VC of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Prof Adamu Baikie, a Northerner, who served successfully as the VC of the University of Benin, he even got a second term; Prof. J. Ezeilo, an Igbo and Christian, who served as the VC of the Bayero University in Kano.
Others were Prof. Essien-Udom, an Ibibio, who was at the University of Maiduguri. Late Prof. Tekena Tamuno, an Ijaw, who served as the VC of the University of Ibadan; Prof. Onwuemechili, an Igbo, who was at the University of Ife as the VC; and Prof. Ayandele, a Yoruba, who served as the VC of the University of Calabar.”
I’m of the opinion that the current phenomenon is a blight which is affecting good governance for which the Nigerian university system was noted for between 1948 and the early 1980s. My reading of the etiology of the malaise is the entrance of state universities into the university education space with state governments insisting that vice-chancellors should be indigenes of the state with other principal officers shared among senatorial districts.
This gradually spread to federal varsities when governors started pressurising the federal government to appoint indigenes as VCs. What we see being played out in Cross River is also applicable in Benue and other states where there are zones or ethnic groups that have not produced VCs for federal varsities.
This is the singular reason why the appointment of VCs has become very controversial; resulting in ethnic groups coming together to “fight” one another once there is the need for a new VC. The issue also put VCs under pressure, especially during recruitment of staff and admission of students. The greatest of these challenges lies in curbing mediocrity in the system.
Again, it reflects the insularity that is evident in the nation’s politics in which there are no rooms for “non-indigenes,” even in states they have domiciled since birth. It is however not a general thing because some VCs stand their grounds in the areas of competence, merit and intellectual development. But when the system insists an indigene gets the job, what it means is that the post will go to the lowest intra-factional consensus. This lowers the quality of governance and academic delivery in such a varsity.
I however need to point out here that there is nothing wrong in having an indigene appointed as VC if his/her selection is purely on academic and managerial merit and not because it is now ‘the turn of an indigene.’ But unfortunately, the latter criterion currently holds sway in almost all of our varsities.
Apart from pressurising the presidency and governors, the local communities, especially the traditional rulers also put enormous pressures on university councils whose recommendations the government relies upon in ratifying appointments.
Most council buckles under the pressure and appoints the indigene – qualified or not. The indigene vice-chancellor, in turn, shares academic and other appointments among members of staff from local governments in the state and the university is turned into a shamefully parochial institution with merit grossly compromised.
We should also not forget that patronage of the traditional rulers, who pressed for the appointment, is a necessary payback through contracts and admission of less-qualified candidates from the community. If we are looking for one of the factors negatively affecting good governance in the Nigerian university system and depressing quality of the delivery system, we should seriously look at this vexed issue of indigene vice-chancellor.
Is it surprising that we are always missing from the global rankings of varsities? The pattern we’ve consciously or unconsciously adopted is definitely inimical to the growth of excellence, which the ivory towers represent. The world will not succumb to a “Nigerian standard” because we want to adapt our system to “local sensibilities” in a sector that plays on globally defined standards. Reducing the loftier academic-cum-administrative position to ethno-religious and municipal enclaves is akin to sacrificing merit on the altar of mediocrity.
It has finally caught up with us and it is plain for all to see. Our graduates are nothing to write home about; the system is in an all-time low with majority of our lecturers sending their children or wards to foreign varsities because they know what we have here are “Jankara” varsities where standards have fallen drastically.
The appointment into the office of VC – who must be a man or woman of moral and intellectual integrity – should transcend ethnic or religious politics. There is the need for contestants to have a level playing field. But my worry is that the way the system is structured now, I doubt whether we can achieve this in the actual sense.
But we cannot continue like this. We need to look ourselves straight in the eye and tell ourselves the home truth; the system can never make headway if we continue to celebrate mediocrity in whatever form we try to justify it.
