The Governing Council of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), in Nigeria, penultimate week, graciously appointed Professor Mrs Adenike Temidayo Oladiji of the Department of Biochemistry in the University of Ilorin, as the Eighth Substantive Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the FUTA.
According to a statement signed by the Registrar and Secretary to the Council, Richard Arifalo, the Council ratified the appointment at its special meeting held on Thursday 12th May 2022, presided over by the University Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Ambassador Dr. Godknows Igali.
According to the report, twenty candidates had been shortlisted for interview at the commencement of the process, out of the 27 male and two female candidates (29 candidates) that earlier applied for the position.
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Nineteen candidates were interviewed, as one of the shortlisted candidates failed to show up. At the end of the interview, the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board recommended three candidates for appointment in line with the extant regulations governing the process.
Because of the closeness of the score of the three recommended candidates, a difference of 0.1%, the Council decided to put it to vote and Professor Oladiji came out top, hence her appointment.
Under extant laws, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of universities is the prerogative of the Governing Council of the said institutions, which on the advice of an internal selection committee has the power to choose from any of the three best candidates submitted to it.
According to a Letter of Appointment personally signed by Dr. Igali, Professor Oladiji’s appointment, which takes effect from Tuesday 24th May 2022, is for a single term of five years.
However, barely one week after the pronouncement, precisely on 19th May 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), FUTA Chapter frankly rejected the appointment of Prof. Adenike Oladiji as the new Vice-chancellor of the institution.
The rejection of Prof. Oladiji was contained in a statement by concerned members of Senate and signed by Prof. P. A. Aborisade and Prof. M. B. Oyun.
They alleged the selection process of Prof. Oladiji was fraught with fraud and lacked transparency.
The Concerned ASUU members opined that the appointment contravened the law of the University, (Act No 11 of 1993) as amended (2003), concerning the processes of Selection of a Vice-Chancellor. They disclosed the resort to voting during the process was alien to the law guiding the selection of a VC of the University.
The statement reads, “The election of a predetermined preferred candidate whose overall score in the process is lower than that of the candidate who came first, throws merit overboard. Unfortunately that cannot and will not be acceptable to us and shall not stand.
“We reject in its totality the appointment of a candidate (Prof Adenike Oladiji) who came second in the process without any acceptable cogent reason of why the candidate who came first was dropped.
“The resort to voting to select a Vice-Chancellor is alien to the law (Statute) guiding the selection process. The process is called selection intentionally by the drafters of the law rather than Election. The Election is a subversion of our law for specific and pre-determined ends.
“We, ‘Concerned members of FUTA Senate’, hereby call on the Governing Council to rescind its announcement of the candidate, go back and announce the appointment of the candidate who came first in the selection process. We will not accept anything less than this.
“We, ‘Concerned members of FUTA Senate’, call on our respected colleague Professor Adenike Temidayo Oladiji of the University of llorin to remain steadfast at her duty post at UNILORIN and not attempt to come to FUTA as Vice-Chancellor.
One would wonder why the Council, in the first place, resorted to voting contrary to the stipulated regulations guiding the Selection of a VC, as alleged by the ‘concerned Senate members’ of the University.
To ensure the situation doesn’t degenerate into a chaotic and bloody scene in the nearest future, the Council is enjoined to revisit its judgment towards making amends where need be. This is to avert any possible crisis that might befall the operations of the University.
The ongoing ASUU strike in Nigeria has already greatly affected the academic calendar, hence no public university across the country would want or tolerate any other issue that would further truncate the activities of the institution, if the Union eventually calls off the industrial action. This is the reason the needful must be done in earnest without much ado.