Pioneer vice chancellor of the Plateau State University, Bokkos, Prof. John Wade, has said the removal of the vice chancellor, Prof. Bernard Matur by the state government was against universal best practices of institutional administration and the extant laws establishing it.
The state government through a press statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government Arch. Samuel Jatau last week announced that Governor Caleb Mutfwang had approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of the university and suspension of the vice chancellor.
Prof. Wade while in an interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Jos said the government’s action was an unnecessary interruption of academic activities.
But in a swift reaction, the commissioner for information and communication, Hon. Ibrahim Musa Ashoms, said the suspension of the vice chancellor fell within the prerogative of the state government.
“As a state government, we will do everything within the law to fix the educational sector which is critical to our development as a state,” he said, adding that critical stakeholders had applauded the decision and were working in tandem with the government to fix all institutions of learning in the state.
The former director general of research and documentation in the administration of Simon Lalong said every state university was backed by law which protects it and defines who owns it. He said for state-owned institutions, it is government, represented by the governor who is otherwise the visitor to the university.
“But the visitor has no direct control over it, except the Governing Council. The law is very clear, the first closest eye to the university in terms of policy formulation is the Governing Council. Interrupting the university activities by the governor who is a visitor amounts to what I called the apocalypse,” he said.
Prof. Wade further said once the law establishing a university is signed, it becomes a legal entity, adding that not even the governor can remove the vice chancellor from office as due process must be followed.
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