SSANU Calls For Scrapping Of Multiple Deputy VCs In Universities
Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Monday called on the Federal Government to scrap the appointment of multiple Deputy Vice-Chancellors in the Universities in order to cut costs and reduce wastage.
Speaking in his address at the 2nd Quadrennial National Delegates Conference in Abuja, the outgoing National President of SSANU, Comrade Samson Chijioke Ugwoke also said that the inability of the Federal Government to keep to agreements it entered freely with unions was responsible for the incessant strikes in the universities.
Speaking on the duplicity of DVCs in the university system, Comrade Ugwoke said, “I wish to express my concern over the appointment of Multiple Deputy Vice-Chancellors in the University.
The appointments not only increase the cost of governance in the University but lead to the usurpation of the job of the Registrar especially the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration.
“There is therefore the dire need to redress this anomaly through appropriate legislation. There should not be more than one Deputy Vice-chancellor in a University. Having multiple Deputy Vice-Chancellors is duplicity and wastage which Universities can avoid.”
He also frowned at the high level of corruption in the university system and called on the government to look into the autonomy law.
According to him, “SSANU as a trade union has been in the forefront in the war against corruption in the educational sector.
The damages done by corruption to our tertiary institutions, especially our Universities are quite colossal.
“We have gone on various advocacies, rallies and protests against the different forms of corruption in the University system, especially in areas of finance management, personnel and others. We have given support to our members who have been persecuted or victimized on account of their stance on corrupt practices either by the Managements or Councils of their Universities.
“We urge the Government to take a second look at the issue of corruption in the University system because of its far-reaching implications on the integrity and sustenance of our institutions.
“We also urge the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to as a matter of urgency constitute Visitation Panels to oversight the activities of all Federal Universities in line with the laws which stipulate visitation once in every five years.
“We also call on Government to review as a matter of necessity, the Autonomy laws currently in operation, which gives room to Vice-Chancellors to ride roughshod over the entire system and unquestioned by the very Councils that employed them.
“The purposes of Councils are gradually being defeated because we have legalized a system where Vice-Chancellors are now stronger than their Councils. The touted University Autonomy has become a shield through which impunity, corrupt practices and illegalities are being promoted and any time corrective measures are introduced, protests of University autonomy will rent the air.
“The easiest legal means to hide corruption is through the University autonomy laws and as such, if the government is truly sincere in tackling corruption in the University system, the University Miscellaneous Provisions Act must be totally reviewed and overhauled.
“Let it be clear that SSANU supports the autonomy of Universities but within proper ambits and the recognition that all interests in the system are represented and protected. Today, what we see as University Autonomy is a tyranny of a group over others in the system, which is unacceptable to us and should be unacceptable to all lovers of democracy, equity and justice in the university system.” Ugwoke said the biggest challenge being faced by SSANU was the lack of respect of agreements duly and freely entered into by either the state or federal governments, pointing out it was one of the reasons for the incessant strike in the university system.
