The external Governing Council Members of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja) have boycotted a meeting with the chairman of Governing Council, Air Vice Marshal Saddiq Ismaila Kaita (rtd), over the appointment of a substantive Vice Chancellor of the University.
Kaita had called for the Council meeting late Monday to appoint a Substantive Vice Chancellor by 3:00pm on Tuesday.
However, sources reveal the external members were not aware of the decision of the chairman as he could not produce an agenda before the meeting.
Recall that a group of 67 professors had stormed the Ministry of Education on Monday and submitted a protest letter to the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, calling for the dissolution of the council in order to start the VC selection afresh in line with due process as prescribed by the law, the conventions and traditions governing public universities.
The professors alleged that the council chairman rejected over 27 internal applications and 60 external applications, 87 in total and invited only three persons to favour his preferred candidate, who is the the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Aisha Maikudi, despite her alleged lack of requisite qualifications.
According to them, the council was improperly constituted, with internal members allegedly handpicked by the immediate-past Vice-Chancellor, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, during a strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) chapter of the institution.
The professors also criticised the inclusion of a representative from the Federal Ministry of Education and a businesswoman on the council, asserting that the individuals lacked the expertise required to uphold quality assurance in higher education governance.
According to the petition, a key criteria for the Vice-Chancellor position, such as a minimum of 10 years of professorial experience, was allegedly disregarded in the advertisement for the post of Vice-Chancellor published in newspapers in August 2024, adding that the Acting Vice-Chancellor had only two years of experience as a professor, allegedly lacking scholarly visibility, and has weak academic credentials.
The aggrieved academics also called for the dissolution of the Governing Council and the establishment of a new body to oversee the selection process, urging the Education Minister to nullify all decisions taken by the current council, warning that failure to act would set a dangerous precedent for other universities.
