When I set out to do a commentary on the Unizik vice chancellorship tussle last week Tuesday, November 19, 2024, it was clear to me that the piece would be indictful.  My mental conclusion after assessing accounts of the crisis was that the VC contraption engineered by the Greg Mbadiwe led Governing Council had to be dismantled. I also realised that the essay would be fairly long. And while the newspaper audience do not generally mind long but informed essay, I could not say the same for social media. I therefore decided to break the work into two components. I eventually finished the Part 1 the following day Wednesday. Thirty minutes later, before I could send it out for publication, a friend sent me the Federal Ministry of Education statement nullifying Professor Bernard Odoh's appointment and also dissolving the Greg Mbadiwe chaired Governing Council. The cheering news however could create the misleading impression that my article was prompted by the development. After weighing the various implications, I chose to publish the script without any adjustment - even at the risk of blunting the prophetic tip of my essay. 

On that note of the federal government's intervention, I salute the President, Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Education,   Dr Tunji Alausa

for the prompt and decisive arrest of the disorder at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The sack of Associate Professor Bernard Odoh and R.I. Nwokike from the positions of Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively is unassailable. The conditions precedent for attainment of the positions were not fulfilled. Abuja rose to the responsibilities of leadership and administration by her action. Government's intervention was necessary to avert further caricature of the offices; and towards restoring public confidence in the system. Other players, notably local and national leadership of ASUU, professional associations, individuals, who stood up for requisite standards deserve to be complimented. The corrective measures also announced for the University of Illorin suggest a firm resolve to deal with the excesses in the system.

 Media reports of Dr Bernard Odoh's rejection of the reversal of his VC appointment - which reports have not been refuted - flashed another shade of recalcitrance. Who could be so defiant to constituted authority? Although the angry threat of resuming at the VC's office the following day was not lived up to, the outburst suggested  disorientation with the norm of public service. It was a reflection of disconnect with  responsibility of position which even Mbadiwe, the daring enforcer was not infected with. The ambitious Imo State - born politician promptly understood the game was over and ducked out of sight without a word. It later emerged that amidst the turbulence generated by the capture of the vice chancellorship, Odoh had set up a disciplinary panel for  containment of the opposition. In the face of escalating tension on campus, the panel, with the speed of sound, had gotten busy issuing summons! The loss of the sense of scandal is a pointer to how things have deteriorated in our system; how the academic values cum  environment are increasingly being devalued. Associate Professor Odoh and Greg Mbadiwe were not alone. The caricature made of the system could not have gone this far without the collaboration of some other academics at Unizik. For how long will this devaluation of the university system go on? 

 It was only ten years ago that Unizik emerged hurt from the muddled hot water of another VC appointment. Like the 2024 episode, the 2014 selection process was marred by the intrusion of extraneous factors. What was supposed to be a transparent run of merit - and had actually started as such - got caught in a web of other interests. In Daily Sun feature of June 17, 2014, captioned "Unizik and Universities' Rusting Gold", I cautioned that  that the violence to the system from compromised selection exercises would linger into the future. I followed up that intervention with another engagement in ThisDay of Sunday, July 27, 2014 titled: "Unizik VC: A Flawed Selection". The crux of the matter was that at the expiration of Prof Boniface Egboka's term of office in 2014, Prof Greg Nwakoby who came tops in the three man shortlist made by the Selection Board was voted down by the Governing Council in preference for Prof Joseph Ahaneku.

Defending it's reinvention of the selection wheel, the Governing Council held that it was not bound by the performance order of the shortlist as it was not the final stage. The Council (and Ahaneku's supporters) emphasised that in vetting of the shortlist, the scale tipped in favour of Ahaneku, hence his appointment as Vice Chancellor. The Council's argument was superfluous, merely serving to deflect from the games being played. The provisions of  Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993 as well as Amendment Act of 2007 do not contemplate the Governing Council as another selection panel. The role of the Governing Council is to confirm the Selection Board's nomination for appointment except in the event of serious allegation against the candidate. Professor Nwakoby who would later become Vice Chancellor of Anambra State University then defined the problem. He pointedly accused a member of the Governing Council from the southeast of having demanded sixty million naira from him as condition for becoming VC. The allegation was repeated at intervals during the appointment standoff. Not a word was heard from the identified member of Council. It later emerged that Nwakoby, a professor of law, had recorded the bribe demand. Regrettably, things went from the bad of 2014 to worse of 2024. Who knows what it takes to catapult an associate Professor to vice chancellor over and above experienced professors!

There's a theory that the stampeded appointments at Unizik, in this case, the vice chancellorship, was about the next Anambra State governorship election scheduled for November 2025. It is speculated that a group in the APC was pulling the strings of appointment towards softening the ground for their choice candidate. By convention, the role of state returning officer is often assigned to a vice chancellor. By the same token, a pliable VC could compile a list of loyalists to serve as local government area returning officers. While this view may only be considered as conjecture, established grounds of deep political exposure on the part of academics would lend probability to this theory. If this was the conceived game of some groups in the APC, it doubly makes acknowledgement of the federal government's response necessary. If it will take complimenting the positive steps of an underperforming government to achieve greater results, so be it.

In past and current cases of leadership succession in public universities, the Governing Councils have proved to be part of the problem. They have acted in such a manner as to constitute one of the parties to the dispute. Their extent of involvement in affairs of the institutions appears to be growing by the day. The increased interest in internal operations creates room for partisanship on the part of some members. At another level, the might - is - right - conditioning of the political class comes into play. Very often, politicians outnumber other categories in both the headship and general membership of the Councils. It would be naive to dismiss the gradual importation of political culture into the ivory tower by Council member - politicians. Succession processes in academic institutions are not designed as tests of political competency. And they are not intended to measure popularity of candidates either. But this is what politicians are introducing by making the Governing Councils a kind of electoral college.  Governments should consider replacing politicians in the Councils with retired  lecturers and former vice chancellors. What better way to talk about square pegs in square holes?

Nigerians may want to use this opportunity to take a second look at the office of vice chancellor. It would appear that the office has been impacted by the Nigerian environment in such a way that learning pursuits is no longer it's mainstay. It's not just about the declining serenity in the campuses. The concern here is  about the seeming shift from the centre of academic industry to pyramid of power. In recent times, the office has shed it's traditional, staid outlook for an unapologetic, bold flamboyance. The feeling of fraternity between the VC and fellow professors has dwindled. In the new era of establishment rule, it's a matter of boss - staff relationship. 

Nigeria's power configuration has reached the shores of our higher educational institutions. 

Positions of Vice Chancellors, Provosts, Rectors are evolving into executive authorities with their own power of patronage. Some vice chancellors are for all practical purposes, mini Governors, in the nature of their undertakings and style of operation. It is now fashionable to run an administrative machinery of special advisers, special assistants and personal assistants to the head of institution. Recall that a Personal Assistant on Media & Publicity, Charles Otu issued a combative statement that disregarded the sack of Bernard Odoh as Unizik VC. While some of these aides are recruited on contract from outside, lecturers who are paid to teach and research, are drafted to take up the other slots. And in tune with their executive clout, heads of institutions move around in convoy of vehicles trailed by security officers! Blaring sirens may not be too far, too long in coming. In the light of the commendable surgical operation at Unizik, the Minister of Education is invited to commission a study on reforms for refocused leadership in academic institutions.