VC Crisis: UI To Hold Special Meeting Today For VC Selection

Following the recent VC Crisis that has been a consistent discussion at the University of Ibadan (UI), the Senate of the institution will hold a special meeting today to select an acting vice-chancellor.

According to information from the press, notice for the special meeting has already been issued in a memo signed by the deputy registrar, senate, Morenike Afolabi, admission and affiliated institutions (SAAI).

The memo reads in part: “Agendum: Selection of one of its members as Ag. Vice-Chancellor (The candidate must not be one of the contestants for the position of Vice-Chancellor). Please attend and be punctual” 

In a letter dated November 27, 2020, the National Universities Commission directed the institution's governing council to appoint an acting-vice chancellor, who would act in that capacity to take over from Idowu Olayinka, the outgoing vice-chancellor.

The said letter addressed to the institution’s pro-chancellor NUC's executive secretary, Abubakar Rasheed, stated that the reason for appointing an acting vice-chancellor is to ensure that the VC's office is not vacant as the institution's management are yet to select a new one.

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More information has also revealed that Nde Joshua Waklek, the pro-chancellor of the institution, has also been summoned to Abuja by the NUC.

This comes a few hours to the end of the tenure of the outgoing VC, Olayinka. The selection process for his replacement has begun afresh as directed by Adamu Adamu, minister of education following the controversies that have trailed the process of selection.

The minister has also gone further to request that all 18 persons who applied for the position should be invited for recommencement of the fresh screening exercise.

The previous selection process was suspended by the governing council because of a protest staged by the Joint Action Committee, which comprises members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) as well as the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU)

The unions had claimed that they had no confidence in the five-person selection committee for the appointment of a new vice-chancellor as they were alleged to have been compromised.

In reaction to the directive of the minister of education, the senate held a meeting on Wednesday to select two members who would join the senate representatives to conduct fresh screening exercise for the VC applicants.

The meeting however witnessed tight security presence in and around the building where it was held, Sunday Saanu, media assistant to the vice-chancellor, however, told TheCable that there was no cause for alarm.

According to Sunday Sannu, he said: “I’m on the campus as I’m talking to you. The campus is calm; there’s no problem. It’s normal when you want to have that kind of democratic exercise, you want to have security around to forestall any unpalatable situation. That does not suggest that you have brought the whole barracks or police station to UI. The meeting was concluded long ago and there wasn’t any drama or cause for trouble,” he had said.

President Muhammadu Buhari, ably represented by the executive secretary of NUC, had earlier warned in a speech given at the institution's convocation ceremony, stressing that the selection process for the new VC position must be transparent, as the government had its eyes on the university and would not permit any corrupt practices in the exercise.