By Aideloje Ojo
A University of Abuja lecturer, Professor Mohammed Yelwa has stressed the need to harmonize requirements for the appointment of public and private universities in order to prevent aviodable tension and legal battles.
Professor Mohammed Yelwa stated this Monday in a chat with journalists in Minna.
He said ” the absence of harmonisation in the process of appointing Vice-Chancellors will continues to generate avoidable tension and legal battles in the country”.
According to him, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in Nigerian universities has in recent years, been a source of avoidable disputes, crises, and prolonged litigations because requirements were not properly harmonized.
He said, ” the major source of conflict is the lack of uniformity in requirements-particularly the controversial clause of 10 years of professorial experience”, adding that inconsistency has created loopholes for manipulation in some institutions while unjustly disqualifying competent candidates in others.
He said, “it is imperative that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC), develops clear, uniform, and binding guidelines to harmonize the criteria for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in both public and private universities’.
He explained that such harmonization should take into cognizance the peculiarities of the Nigerian university system while aligning with global best practices.
“It is time for the Federal Ministry of Education, working with the National Universities Commission (NUC), to develop clear, harmonized guidelines for appointing Vice-Chancellors across both public and private universities”, he said.
He argued that the current disparities in interpretation and application of the ten-year professorial experience requirement have created fertile grounds for acrimony and institutional instability in the country.
