UI VC Race: SSANU, NASU Petition Education Minister, Recommend Appointment Of Acting Helmsman

The controversy surrounding the selection of the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan festered on Friday as the institution’s chapter of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) petitioned the Minister of Eductaion, Adamu Adamu.

This blog recalls that the ongoing process for the selection of the next VC was suspended by the governing council after a protest by workers who alleged that the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka wants to impose his Deputy, Professor Kayode Adebowale as his successor.

In the new petition sighted by This blog, the workers alleged that “the process according to observations and analysis of individuals and groups in the University is fraught with irregularities, manipulations and brazen biases that have consequently provoked petitions and widespread crisis on the campus.

“Consequently, as veritable stakeholders in the university, we have decided to intimate the Honourable Minister of the developments with a view to finding durable solutions to this, and other ancillary matters.”

In the petition, the workers also cited various observations which indicates that the ongoing process is fraught by ‘irregularities, bias, and malpractice.’

However, to find a lasting solution to this crisis, they recommended that the Education Minister should order the “immediate suspension of the initial tainted process that is pre-arranged to foist a preferred candidate on the University.

“Direct the Governing Council to request the Petitions Committee to look into the available petitions.

“The Minister should look into the activities of the present Governing Council particularly to assess their performance in relation to the incessant industrial crises since the assumption of office of Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka.

” The Governing Council should direct Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka to process on leave and allow an Acting Vice Chancellor to start the provess of the appointment all over.”

They also urged the Minister to inaugurate a committee of former Vice Chancellors of the University and saddle the committee with the responsibility of nominating for the approval of the Minister, an acting Vice Chancellor, who will midwife a transparent, fair and just process of the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor.