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By Madu Obi
The Senate meeting of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State has failed to resolve the lingering crisis over the alleged exclusion of clinical professors in the race for the vacant position of the Vice Chancellor of the university.
At the well attended Senate meeting at the main auditorium of the university, most of the participants accused the Chief Greg Mbadiwe - led governing council of introducing guidelines that were alien to UNIZIK in the process of selecting the next Vice Chancellor of the institution.
Some groups within the university community staged a protest during the Senate meeting, carrying placards with inscriptions such as "Dissolve Mbadiwe's Council," "Save UNIZIK," and "Academic Excellence, Not Cash-and-Carry."
One of the professors in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences who spoke at the Senate meeting wondered why there should be discrimination in the appointment of a Vice Chancellor.
He said: "Before we were appointed by the university, all of us were qualified by the criteria set out. If we were not qualified, many of us would not have applied.
Along the line, we all went through appraisals and processes for promotion and today, many of us are professors. Surprisingly, we are being told that we are no longer professors.
We are not unmindful of what is in the act establishing Nnamdi Azikiwe University, which includes that nobody should be discriminated against by either ethnic or religious background. But we are being discriminated against today because we have Medical Fellowships.
Others have their own and at the end of the day, they are deemed qualified to be promoted professors. Even when the clinical professors went on strike, others did not care."
Apart from the clinical professors, the four Senate representatives on the Governing council of the university also condemned the attitude of the Pro Chancellor during a recent governing council meeting, adding that all attempts to convince the Pro Chancellor to toe a line of reason failed.
Describing the Pro chancellor as insensitive and therefore unsuitable for the university environment, they unanimously condemned the advertisement for the Vice Chancellor position, which requires candidates to have attracted a N400 million grant to the university.
This condition is cash-and-carry and detrimental to the institution's academic integrity", they said.
They also queried the requirement for only a PhD, arguing that equivalent qualifications, such as Medical Fellowships should be considered and also criticized the condition that candidates must have 15 years of post PhD experience before they would be qualified to be Vice Chancellor.
The members wondered why the Pro-chancellor should advocate for a Vice Chancellor who had not previously held administrative positions as head of department or dean of a faculty.
A Senate member said: "The university community has been tense since Mbadiwe's governing council took office.
We cannot continue to operate under this oppressive regime. The Pro-Chancellor's actions are undermining the university's autonomy and academic excellence.
The university is one and there is no quarrel between lecturers in the faculties in the medical professions and others. We all need each for the growth of the university.
It is the government policy that is creating this division among us and we should not allow them to take its root in this university".
The senate vowed not to cooperate with the current governing council, calling for the extension of incumbent Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Carol Arinze-Umobi's tenure until a new governing council is established.
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