Autonomy could solve HE governance crisis, but not right now

The appointment of Benard Odoh, a geophysics professor, as the seventh substantive vice-chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka in Nigeria’s south-east region, was an embarrassment for the university community after a backlash from different directions about irregularities.

Eighteen other candidates vied for the position. The institution’s governing council (GC), chaired by Greg Mbadiwe, touted the selection process as free and fair. Mbadiwe said Odoh’s appointment aligned with the institution’s rules and regulations and with the Nigerian government’s terms. Odoh’s tenure was set for five years.

Among the organisations questioning the vacancy announcement and recruitment process were the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the university’s chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN).

The ASUU attacked the GC after the latter advertised a vacancy for the position of vice-chancellor on 12 September 2024. The union asked for the notification to be withdrawn, alleging that the council was not properly constituted. According to the ASUU, all five members of the council at the time were government appointees. The union sought more time for the appointment of other stakeholders to the council.

Also, MDCAN alleged that the vacancy advertisement of the GC clearly showed that the latter deliberately discriminated against academic staff from the faculties of medicine and basic clinical sciences, most of whom do not have the same academic pathway as other academics. “The requirements outlined in the vacancy were suspiciously specific to the profile of only one person – Odoh, who was later appointed,” Victor Modekwe, MDCAN’s chairperson, said at the time.

Education ministry furious

Adding to the already heated debate, the Federal Ministry of Education wrote a letter to the university’s GC, severely reprimanding it for appointing new leadership without getting approval from the ministry. The education ministry then informed the council that its appointment of the vice-chancellor and other principal officers were null and void.

“It has come to the attention of the ministry that your council had gone ahead to appoint a vice-chancellor for the university without the representative of the ministry, the internal council members, and other stakeholders on Tuesday, 29th October 2024. This is a gross disregard to constituted authority and is not in line with extant provisions,” the ministry’s letter to the council, dated 1 November 2024, read.

The wrangling that ensued drew the attention of President Bola Tinubu, who is a visitor to all federal universities in the country. On 20 November 2024, Tinubu sacked Odoh and dissolved the GC of the 34-year-old university.

“The sacking of the GC and officials followed reports that the council illegally appointed an unqualified vice-chancellor without following due process … The government expressed concern over the council’s apparent disregard for the university’s governing laws in its selection process,” presidency spokesman Bayo Onanuga said in a letter.

Joseph Ikechebelu, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, was then named acting vice-chancellor. In his first speech, he described the recent challenges the institution faced as “traumatic”, but assured the university community, the Nigerian public, and the global academic community that the institution “is now firmly back on track”.

One case too many

Although the Nnamdi Azikiwe University crisis was in the limelight, it was not the only case. At about the same time, the University of Abuja in the nation’s capital, was also embroiled in a leadership crisis. Some members of the institution’s academic staff accused the GC of breaching federal guidelines to favour 41-year-old Aisha Maikudi, a professor of international law, as the university’s vice-chancellor.

In October 2024, there were allegations that the GC had lowered the requirements for the position of vice-chancellor to enable Maikudi, who became a professor only in 2022, to be eligible for the role, University World News reported.

Amid the controversy, on 31 December 2024, the university announced Maikudi, who was previously in an acting role, as the substantive vice-chancellor. On 20 January 2025, the local news outlet Sahara Reporters reported that the university senate members had petitioned the minister of education and sought the dissolution of the GC for allegedly manipulating the vice-chancellor appointment process.

Also, on 14 January 2025, the ASUU chapter of Gombe State University in Nigeria’s northern region decried what is described as “the continuous” violations of the university’s laws in the appointment of the institution’s vice-chancellor.

Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya had, on 16 October 2024, appointed Professor Sani Yauta as the institution’s acting vice-chancellor. The ASUU expressed shock that the governor and visitor to the university neglected to screen the three nominees presented to him by the GC.

A university visitor is an individual who performs ceremonial, appellate, and interventionist duties for a university, according to an article about university governance published in the African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies on 1 December 2023. In the Nigerian university system, the visitor to any federal university is the president. At state universities, the visitor is the governor of that state while, at private universities, the visitor is the university’s founder. The visitor appoints the chancellor, pro-chancellor, and some members of the GC. The council appoints the vice-chancellor – a process the visitor usually influences.

Bribery and politicisation

Perhaps the most recent case of governance challenges facing universities is that of Abayomi Sunday Fasina, the vice-chancellor of Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) in the south-west that has been the target of a wave of allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual harassment and bribery. According to a report by the Nigerian Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Fasina allegedly bribed two individuals with NGN20 million (about US$13,000) while appointing the institution’s registrar and bursar. The individuals Fasina is accused of bribing were reportedly external members of the university’s GC.

This highlights the importance of the composition of the GC and the process of appointing members. The report noted that bribery amounts to gross misconduct and an offender could be fired if the offence is established, according to FUOYE’s revised regulations governing the conduct of service of senior staff.

Experts point to a single factor stewing in governance challenges in Nigeria’s university system: politicisation. They decry that the governance challenges at the universities might hinder the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education institutions, disrupt academic activities, and erode public confidence.

“Ideally, a university should be independent and operate universally in terms of appointing its leaders, designing its curriculum (based on the needs of the community), and so on. But, in Nigeria, it’s a case of those who pay the piper calling the tune.

Professor Solomon Adebola, the vice-chancellor of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State in south-west Nigeria, told University World News that “When it comes to managing the university, the rules are there, but they are usually ignored. You often find interferences from outside bodies – from the owners. This affects the leadership of the university itself. Sometimes, owners give the curricula to the universities, which shouldn’t happen. A university must be able to chart its own way, but the influence is inevitable if money is obtained from an outside body.”

Grave consequences

Adebola graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1975. At the time, there were only about five federal universities in Nigeria, including Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, and the University of Nigeria Nsukka. All of them had solid systems in place regarding what they were meant to do, he said.

“However, when more universities were created, the government began to appoint rulers to oversee them, and they would pick individuals perceived to be loyal to them. That practice is continuing,” Adebola said.

Adebola said that the politicisation of universities portends great danger to the system. Instead of picking the best to govern, the choice is usually the most loyal individuals.

“The impact is negative,” Adebola said. “It gives the university no direction. A university should be a citadel of learning, to solve societal problems. But the owners would tell you what they want. In many cases, the indigenes of places where universities are located go as far as protesting if their own is not appointed as the vice-chancellor. Why are we losing foresight?”

Speaking at a lecture in December 2024, Sunday Echono, the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), also raised the alarm over the growing influence of politics and corruption in the appointment of university leadership, describing the trend as detrimental to the quality of higher education.

“Our universities have become increasingly local, with most academic and non-academic staff sponsored by local politicians and other leaders from the host communities. Political affiliation has also assumed overarching importance in the selection process,” he said.

Addressing the governance crisis

To address the continuous governance challenges plaguing the university system and shield it from political interference, Echono called for full autonomy for the institutions. “The autonomy of universities needs to be strengthened to minimise political interference. Accountability at every level of the selection process [of vice-chancellors] is vital for fostering integrity and meritocracy,” he said.

Professor Gbenga Adewale, an education assessment expert at the University of Ibadan, agrees that full autonomy and compliance with extant laws can solve the governance crisis at universities.

“The university reflects society because what is obtainable in society is what is obtainable at the universities. How do we solve this problem? Look at the laws and the policies that govern the appointment of leadership. Secondly, everyone must be aware of the rules. Thirdly, everyone must be encouraged to be a whistleblower – to talk when things are not done properly. The culture of silence must be broken,” Adewale said.

“When these three are in place, I think sanity would be restored to the university system with respect to the appointment of headship. The vice-chancellor is a political appointment, and there are usually intrigues that play out. Some persons go as far as to the presidency to lobby for the position.”

But, although full autonomy is required to solve the governance crisis, Adewale said it is not realistic anytime soon, due to certain challenges. “Full autonomy for Nigeria’s university system won’t work out now. This is because, once this happens, the government cannot be involved. The major means of income will then be tuition fees, which the universities will need to increase.”

He said if this happens, the students and parents could protest and there might be chaos. On the other hand, if the government withdraws from university governance, tuition is increased, those who can’t afford it would simply withdraw without protesting. “In the long run, everything would be normalised. But, for now, full autonomy won’t work,” he said.