The teachers, under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said appointment of VCs should be handled by governing councils of respective institutions.
The union noted that political interference from the government, especially the Federal Ministry of Education, on the appointment of a new VC is responsible for some of the crisis in the universities.
National President of the union, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the procedure for appointing a new VC is very clear, duly backed by law and should be respected.
According to him, only the governing council has the sole responsibility of appointing a new VC whenever there is a vacancy.
He said: “The selection committee conducts interviews for shortlisted candidates to arrive at the best three, who would be recommended to the larger Council.
“The Council will then do a thorough review of the entire process, and the criteria used in selecting the candidates. At this stage, the Council has the right to pick any of the three, and the preferred 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, and the candidate with the highest votes becomes the new vice chancellor, and that ought to end the process before sending the name to the President, who is the visitor, for ratification.”
Citing the recent case of Admiralty University, where two vice-chancellors emerged, which nearly disrupted activities, Osodeke said external interference in the appointment of VCs should stop to forestall crisis in the institutions.
The ASUU chief advised that government should hands-off completely in the appointment of vice-chancellors and allow the system to work as it should.
But when asked about the position of merit and fairness if the best candidate produced during the interview is not chosen, Osodeke said to resolve such concern is simple as the law provides for a redress.
“So, neither the ministry nor presidency has the constitutional power to force any candidate on the council. It was those old days that the Council would send names of the best three candidates to the President to pick from, but that is no longer the case.
“That is why running to the president or minister to resolve appointment crisis in the universities instead of court is improper,” Osodeke stated.
