By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has raised concerns over the appointment of Vice Chancellors in Nigerian universities, saying the government has made such an important position look like a constituency project.
SSANU also decried the poor funding of the universities and inter-university centers, saying that what ought to be a citadel of learning now looks like local government headquarters.
This came as the association lamented the deplorable conditions of Nigerian roads, saying that they are worse than roads in Rwanda and Southern Sudan.
The National President of SSANU, Mohamed Haruna Ibrahim, stated this in his opening remarks at the 50th Regular National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State.
While expressing worry over the condition of Nigerian universities and interuniversity centers in terms of funding, Ibrahim said, “We have said it before, and we will repeat it again. We have clearly seen that the government is not serious about education in Nigeria, especially university education.
“Why do we say this? Funding is at its lowest ebb. The new challenge is that we used to have problems with funding and capital, but what is new, or the emerging trend, is that even with personnel costs, personnel projects are not adequately funded. How will we run universities without properly funding them? University is about teaching, research, and community service.
“How do you do this? You can’t teach, you can’t do any research, and you wouldn’t be able to do any community service without money or funding. Universities are supposed to attract the best friends around the world.
“From the name university, it is universal. In Otuoke, we should have Indians, Americans, Europeans, and other Africans as members of staff, both teaching and even non-teaching. This is what makes a university.
“But today, most of our universities are becoming like local government headquarters. Even the appointment of vice-chancellors has been so localized to look like a constituency project that a vice-chancellor must be from the community hosting the university. This is absurd.
“It is a massive setback for international standards. People should apply, and vacancies should be open to internal and external candidates. Recruitment of principal officers and even other staff members is now becoming like a constituency project.
“Our union frowns at this development because it’s negative. We have no quarrels with you employing any professional—it can be from the next village—but let it be competitive so that our students will have the best experiences meeting different people from different backgrounds.
“And even our admissions today, students are only admitted, not even from the catchment area, but from the host community. Some of us who graduated over thirty years ago have mixed with people from different backgrounds, and we are thankful for this. We appreciate it today. We have friends across Nigeria and even abroad.
“So if you do your primary school in Otuoke, Yola, Maiduguri, or Lagos, and you do your secondary school, even within the university demonstration school, and you do the university education within that same community. Tomorrow, you aspire to be appointed Minister; you will see things from that perspective. You will not appreciate how others behave, how others do things, how others do things.
“So we use this voice and this platform to say that government should be deliberate in returning universities to what they should be in terms of funding, in terms of support and in terms of making sure that discipline is adhered to”
SSANU commended the management of the Federal University, Otuoke, for handling staff development to allow members to progress and reach the peak of their careers.
Ibrahim said, “Mister Vice Chancellor, we want to congratulate you for supporting our union and, by extension, other unions. We have been told that your staff development is excellent, which makes us tick and allows our staff to rise to the pinnacle of their chosen careers.
“Give a level playing field for workers to showcase their best. I’m happy the branch’s chairman is a university governing council member. This is also another plus, as non-teaching staff will not be short-changed. In addition to this, we have seen this happening in other universities, too. So SSANU is growing in leaps and bounds, and SSANU will continue to grow. Inshallah.”
*Says Nigerian roads worse than roads in Rwanda, Southern Sudan
On the condition of Nigerian roads, the SSANU President said, “Nigeria has the worst set of roads. The roads in Rwanda are better. The ones in southern Sudan are better than what we see in Nigeria. So our roads are bad. They are in bad condition. So, the government should wake up to its responsibility.”
