By Orakwue Chikelue
The Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, (UNIZIK), Anambra State, will be appointing a substantive vice-chancellor (VC) a few months from now when the non-renewable six-month tenure of the acting VC comes to an end. It is expected that activities marking the process will be made public with notice of vacancy for the position published in at least three reputable national newspapers. Nothing will be more gratifying to know that the university is working hard to ensure it recommends its best from among whom a primus inter pares will be appointed to steer the ship of the institution to safe shores.
It does not seem anything will upend the course of getting the best for the university, especially when the antecedents of those in contest are in the public space for interrogation. But more than that, the federal government’s decision to sternly apply what it calls eligibility criteria in appointing vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts will guarantee that a good job is done. These criteria will not only ensure promotion of equity, integrity and transparency, but will also strengthen institutional governance in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
One of the criteria is that no acting VC or the equivalent should be allowed to contest a substantive office without first resigning the office. This is to make sure that the pattern of undue advantage brought to bear on such contests, which often influences appointment outcomes, is totally eliminated. The council is to also certify that only candidates with ten-year experience as professors are allowed to contest out of which the top three contestants are shortlisted in order of merit. It is from the three that the university council will appoint the best – the primus inter pares for the substantive position.
It is expected that no council of any university, however well-intentioned, will circumvent the rules in selecting and appointing a candidate to an office as hallowed as a VC of a federal university. In as much as universities have their peculiarities, which do not preclude recommendations for appointment to the office, it is believed that UNIZIK would play by the rules in order to maintain and possibly surpass its rating among universities in Nigeria.
The university has over a long period of time copped a reputation for academic excellence, which needs to be protected by strongly recommending and appointing its best in order to safeguard its achievements. Even an implacable enemy of the school knows that UNIZIK is minded to always take the high ground when deciding its leadership future. It has never succumbed to mediocrity in such matters.
What then are the qualities expected to be possessed of the would-be vice chancellor of UNIZIK? Put differently, who qualifies to be that VC who will turn things around for the institution and change its fortunes in such a manner as to make it a place where alumni and alumnae would be proud to identify with? Where in the corner of the university is the one who would unleash the genius of the university lurking? The answer to this question may not be difficult to provide, unless UNIZIK has not decided to offer its best for the job.
Though being qualified to aspire to lead is one and the ability to effectively deliver on the job is another. vice-chancellorship position of any university is laden with a lot of responsibilities only a very few can discharge creditably. It is not an office to be experimented on because of the responsibilities it carries. Professors may claim knowledge well above the ordinary run of men but when confronted with leadership responsibilities, which are way off the range of academics, many very easily crumble under the weight. Ability to combine academic excellence with leadership capacity is not common among the tribe of professors.
Many are wont to profess “knowledge” which John Cardinal Newman, the 19th century academic, writer, historian, philosopher and Catholic theologian, admitted is the sole idea of a university. But this may signal unmitigated failure heaving on a shoulder designed for propagation of knowledge alone the burden and exhaustive work of managing a university. It does not fail to cave under the weight, particularly if not borne with purpose and courage.
What Nnamdi Azikiwe University needs now is a leader who professes knowledge in much the same way he manifests leadership skills. In recommending the three out of which one will emerge, UNIZIK should be intentional about leadership experience. It needs a hands-on manager who has been tested and who is not coming to experiment on the job. He should be someone whose capacity for managing an organization as big as a university is well established. Managing a university requires tact and strength of character to deal with the humungous challenges not very common at the level of dean, director or provost. It tasks patience, courage and cosmopolitanism,,while spurning insular and sectarian bent. It is way beyond grandstanding and unnecessary showmanship of the stamp of a unionist.
It is most unlikely that UNIZIK will want to reinvent the wheel recommending those who have no business aspiring to lead it at this critical time in its history. The fact that every candidate who has already indicated interest in the job is known to the university community will help lighten the burden of selection and appointment. Fortunately, the capacity of all the candidates to perform is not obscured by lack of responsibilities–almost all have led either as department heads, deans of faculties, provosts of colleges and directors of centres/institutes.
Their strengths are as evident to the council as their weaknesses are public knowledge. It will be a great disservice to the university if merit is sacrificed on the altar of group interest, provincialism and greed. If the beautiful foundation upon which Nnamdi Azikiwe University was built and sustained by its past vice-chancellors, especially the disciplined Professor Festus Nwako and the transformative Professor Ilochi Okafor, SAN, is not to be lost, care should be taken not to allow irrelevant considerations to trump merit in the making of the new VC.
• Chikelue, a public affairs analyst, writes from Enugu
