A coalition of some civil society
organisations has advised the 13 Vice Chancellors of federal universities in
the country who were wrongly appointed by the Federal Government last February
to take the path of honour by resigning their appointments. The coalition
explained that the measure had become imperative following President Muhammadu
Buhari’s apology to the country over the ill-advised dissolution of the
governing boards of the affected universities, which preceded the sack of the
former Vice Chancellors and the appointment of new ones.
In a statement over the weekend, in Abuja, led by National Convener of the Concerned Citizens for
Educational Development, CCED, Mr Solomon Adodo and Executive Director, Friends
in the Gap Advocacy Initiative, FGAI, George Oji, commended the principled
position of Professor Auwal Yadudu, who bluntly refused to accept the offer of
appointment as Vice Chancellor of the University of Birnin Kebbi for not
following due process. The group also highlighted the action of Professor
Andrew Haruna, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Gashua, Yobe State,
(one of the 13 Vice Chancellors), who in apparent recognition of his illegal
appointment has now applied to the University of Jos as one of the candidates for
the office of the Vice Chancellor of that university.
“We use this medium to
call on all the 13 Vice Chancellors who were recently appointed without
undergoing the spelt out procedures to honourably tender their resignation
letters as Professor Haruna did, as he subjects himself to seek the pristine
office of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos. “The fact that
Professor Haruna could subject himself to the proper screening and interview
process of the University of Jos Governing Council negates the premise on which
he and the other 12 appointed Vice Chancellors were foisted on their respective
universities in the first instance,” the coalition said. The group restated
that the position of the law, which provides that the appointment of Vice Chancellors
of Federal Universities is the sole affair of each university without undue
interference from the Visitor (President) as seen in the case of University of
Jos Governing Council under the Chairmanship of Dr. Don Etiebet, stressing
that, “the competitiveness of the process gives room for the best candidate to
emerge successfully without bias or political interference.” [Vanguard]
No comments:
Post a Comment