Why FG should stop interfering in VCs’ appointment – ASUU
Written by Jamz 100.1 fm on March 24, 2025
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has explained why the government should leave the appointment of a new vice-chancellor of a public universities of the governing councils of respective institutions.
The union said the political interference from the government’s side, especially the Ministry of Education and the Presidency on the issue of appointment of a new VC for a federal university in Nigeria has been one of the strong factors causing crisis.
The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, made the remark in an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune when asked how to prevent recurrent crisis trailing the appointment of a new VC for a public university in the country.
Explaining the process, he said, “The procedure to appoint a new VC for a public university in Nigeria is very clear and backed by the law.
“It is the governing council that has a sole responsibility to appoint a new vice- chancellor whenever there is a vacancy.
“The council will meet and constitute a committee, which will be made up of the university Senate and Council.
“The selection committee will conduct interviews for shortlisted candidates and the interviews may be in stages to arrive at the best three and recommend them to the larger Council to pick one for the position.
“The Council will then do thorough review of the entire process against each of the recommended candidate with the criteria used for selecting them.
“At this stage, the Council has the rights to pick anyone from the three and the person may not necessarily be the candidate with the highest marks based on their review and findings.
“And if there is an argument on who to pick among them, they will subject the process to voting with candidate that has the highest votes becomes the new VC and that ought to end the process before sending the name to the President, who is the visitor through the minister of education for ratification.
“So, it is not compulsory to pick number one on the list as the other two have equal chance of becoming the VC, but the council must have to put up a clear and convincing reason or reasons for rejecting the number one.”
