Buhari Sacks VC of National Open University of Nigeria

Vice chancellors of the 12 federal universities established by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan have been sacked by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government. Also dismissed is Prof. Vincent Tenebe, the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN.

Their sack, which was contained in a terse statement signed by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu and obtained by newsmen on Saturday, simply disclosed that President Buhari has approved the appointment of new vice chancellors for the universities.

It was gathered that while the Vice Chancellor of NOUN was replaced with Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu of the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano, the substantive Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, Prof. Mohammed Kundiri, was transferred to the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State.

But the decision has not gone down well with some members of the academic community as they insist that it is only the Governing Council of NOUN of which Tenebe is a member, that could remove him.

Already, a human rights organisation, Coalition of Civil Society Groups, CCSG, has protested against the sack in a letter to Buhari, demanding the reversal of the decision as it contravenes the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No.11 of 1993 (as amended) by decree No.25, 1996 and further amended in 2003 and 2012 respectively and other agreements as contained in the 2009 FGN staff union agreement.

The CCSG in its protest letter to Buhari signed by its president, Etuk Bassey Williams and secretary-general, Ibrahim Abubakar, lamented that four out of the 12 newly appointed vice chancellors are from the university in Kano, an action they said, was a clear violation of the federal character principle.