THE acrimony and vitriol accompanying succession to the post of vice-chancellor in most public varsities offer a sad commentary on the abysmal level the nation’s academic community has sunk into. The negative nuances of politics crippling the country’s vital sectors appear to have been smuggled into university education to the detriment of robust scholastic exercise.
The estimable town and gown concept is eroded, and the gown now emulates the town’s way of life instead of otherwise. The university, as a microcosm of society and purveyor of the finest intellectual values, is critical to nurturing society with developmental ideals and striking innovations. And as the principal academic and administrative officer of a university, the tasks of a vice chancellor involve providing leadership, academic and administrative, to the entire university community; representing the university externally, both within the country and overseas; securing a financial base sufficient to allow the delivery of its mission, aims and objectives and carrying out important ceremonial and civic duties.
But sadly, this is not the picture here. The appointment of vice-chancellors in many public universities is often hinged on selection based on the primal sentiments and influences of powerbrokers. Merit is pathetically ensnared, and the VC handpicked based on politics and nepotism, exploiting the divisive tendencies among staff and management without tangible attention to academic and administrative acumen. Wrangling, litigation and pettiness have unseated quality research, teaching and training, the hallmarks of university education.
Succession crises have been recorded in many public universities, including the University of Lagos, the University of Ibadan and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Many state universities are also not left out of the shameful displays. In the past, many state universities such as the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology were embroiled in the reprehensible situation and lately, the Lagos State University has been enmeshed in a succession crisis.
In the days of yore, pioneering VCs of universities were refined intellectuals appointed on merit and rareness. There was no room for ethnic or religious colourations in the appointment of VCs for UI, UNILAG, the Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Benin, among others, at the time. All that has now become a fairy tale as ethnicity is now the password for VC appointment in federal universities.
In the South-West, it is now a Herculean task for a non-Yoruba to emerge as VC in a public university, a non-Igbo has no chance of emerging VC of one in the South-East, just as only a northerner can aspire to be a VC in any public higher institution in the North. The situation has worsened to the extent that in some cases, only indigenes of the town where the institution is sited can be VC. Between 1976 and 1977, after his tenure as the VC at the University of Ilorin, Oladipo Akinkugbe, was chased out of ABU. There have been protests against the appointment of VCs who are non-indigenes of the areas where the universities are located. The archaic model of VC appointment robs the university community of the best brains and allows yes-men to become VCs.
Globally, renowned universities such as Harvard, IMT, Oxford and Cambridge attract scholars and students from across the world. They consistently affirm the tenets of universities being universal in structure and practice. But in Nigeria, Visitors to public universities (statutorily the president in federal and governors in states) see it as an opportunity to entrench cronyism and assert power in an age where universities’ problem-solving ideas help to stimulate growth.
A university is imbued with internal mechanisms to identify threats and solve crises. Governors should stop seeing the appointments of VCs as an extension of their political hegemony. They should face governance which requires pressing attention and stop meddling in university matters. Their meddlesomeness continues to hurt the academic environment and cheapens scholarly offering as universities are often embroiled in protracted leadership crises. In the glorious days of university education, the best brains were in charge and only first-rate lecturers got the job.
On its part, the Federal Government must stimulate scholarship, fund education adequately and encourage research to drive the country to the Promised Land.
A university should be a promoter of merit and a symbol of it. It is neither for ethnicity, nepotism or national culture of sharing where the establishment of one is hinged on geographical spread. When merit is abandoned, it creates room for graft, kills competitiveness and allows for dubious comradeship. Higher education is the fulcrum to galvanise youths towards ground-breaking feats. But such may end up a pipe dream if tawdriness continues to guide VC appointments in Nigerian universities.
Beyond the buildings, by its cocktail of ideas and potpourri of disciplines, the universe is encapsulated in the university. Thus, stakeholders ought to constantly strive to fortify the worthy values enshrined in a university. As a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli, said, “University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.”
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