The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Lagos State University (ASUU-LASU) has faulted the selection process of a new Vice Chancellor for the university.
In a statement signed by Tony Dansu, Secretary ASUU-LASU and Adeolu Oyekan, Assistant Secretary, the union said it was worried that a process expected to be seamless and acceptable to all parties based on its credibility, transparency and legality has become enmeshed in many avoidable controversies.
The union said it was forced to break its silence over the unfolding process, as the situation might plunge the university into crisis if not well handled.
The statement read: “We wish to express in very clear terms, our disappointment in the way and manner the selection process was made to deviate from established university norms, thereby bringing the institution into disrepute.
“For us, we are less concerned about the personal and extra-academic issues that are being brought into the contests by surrogates of some of the contestants, based on our belief that it is always better and profitable to focus on the fidelity of the process. Almost always, good processes result in good products,” it said.
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The union however noted that signs that the process would be marred by irregularities emerged after the advertisement for the position of the Vice Chancellor was made a few days after the inauguration of the 11th Governing Council, and before its first meeting.
“The belief of many is that not bringing the criteria for selection before the new Council for deliberation is a calculated attempt to present the Selection Committee with a fait acompli.
“For instance, an advert that purported to improve on the 2015 exercise (in which possession of PhD was compulsory) by demanding 10 years post professorial experience from all applicants failed to state explicitly that PhD is a compulsory requirement though subsequent parts of it made PhD supervision and examination additional requirements, meaning implicitly that those who do not possess PhD degrees are ineligible.
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“The omission is inexplicable, given that the University recently began to disengage long standing academic staff without PhD. Note also, that the LASU PG School Regulations 13 and 14 on eligibility to teach, examine and supervise postgraduate theses make a PhD compulsory for PhD courses and thesis supervision.
“Simmering tensions heightened when the election of the Senate representatives on the Committee was held virtually, against reservations by some members of the University community, at a time the University had already resumed physical lectures and with hundreds of students in some classrooms.
“The virtual election platform of the University had suffered a serious integrity crisis since the controversial students elections of 2018, that resulted in many petitions and protests,” it further noted.
The union said that a voting system that is open and transparent, under safe COVID19 protocols, could have given the process more credibility.
It further alleged that the Selection Committee was unable to abide by the conditions stipulated in the advertisement for the position of Vice Chancellor, as candidates who did not meet some of the clearly stated criteria scaled the short-listing stage and even made it to the three(3) person list reportedly submitted to the Visitor.
“This development, more than any other, did great damage to the process, as many interested Professors within and outside LASU who could have been a part of the process shelved their ambitions in deference to the conditions.
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“To go ahead and shortlist applicants who did not fulfil the basic conditions, and also proceed to recommend them as reported, calls to question the parameters used by the Professor Ninalowo-led Committee in scoring the candidates.
Given the heat generated so far by the process, it said it was important that the Visitor to intervene within the ambits of the law to ensure a hitch free resolution. “In a case where the list before the Visitor contains any name that does not meet any of the clearly stated requirements, it is only fair, for the sake of justice, transparency and the avoidance of crisis in the University, for such to be struck off the list,” the union said.
It advised the Visitor to consider only those who meet the basic conditions. “In a situation where none of the reportedly sent names meets any of the requirements, we recommend a review of the selection process.
The union said,“Since the University Law stipulates a recommendation of at least three names to the Visitor, we believe he may have to request from the Committee, the full list of all the applicants, and review the process to determine whether any of them meet the advertised conditions .Failure to find any applicant appointable from the full pool of applicants, we request a cancellation of the entire process, with a fresh one commenced and concluded within the shortest possible time, preferably not exceeding a period of sixty (60) days.
“Where the Visitor finds that the selection process has not been fair, and decides on its cancellation, we request very strongly, the suspension/ recusal of the Chairman of the Governing Council for the duration of a fresh exercise. This is the least that can be done under the circumstance, as his participation in the controversy-ridden one renders him morally unfit to preside over a fresh, credible and acceptable process.
“For us as a Union, we have no equivocation about the unsuitability of Professor Adebayo Ninalowo as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of Lagos State University. This is based on the many scandals that plagued his tenure as Chair of the 10th Governing Council, and for which he and our Union were at constant loggerheads.”
The union also called for the full domestication of the University Miscellaneous Act of 2007 by proposing an amendment to the University Law. According to it, LASU is about the only university yet to fully domesticate the Act. “For example, all the four Principal officers going by the Act, are to spend a single non-renewable term of five years in office. This has only been implemented for the position of Vice-Chancellor in LASU,” it noted.
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