ACE Ondo Staff Union, Alumni Frowns At Appointment Of VC

The Academic Staff Union of the Adeyemi University of Education Ondo, and former students of the institution have faulted the appointment of Prof. Richard Peters-King as the vice chancellor. Peters-King was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan at the twilight of his administration as the first vice chancellor of the institution.

The school, formerly a college of education, was upgraded alongside three other colleges to universities of education last month.

In a statement by the alumni’s Public Relations Officer, Legal Adviser and Representative at the Governing Council of the institution, Yemi Olugbamigbe; and Wale Adegbami and Dr. Damian Ademulegun, respectively, they frowned on the appointment of Peters-King, saying it did not follow due process.

Identifying some of the flaws in the appointment, the association said “the laws abrogating the initial status of the college had not been effected.

The statement added, “The conditions of service that would take into consideration the peculiarities of the upgraded institutions in the attempt to transit into the new status have not been provided.

“A period of moratorium is required within which there would be the necessary harmonisation of supervision, programmes, staff cadres, among others. This period of transition should be jointly monitored by the NUC and NCCE while the existing Governing Council is retained.

“The hasty appointment of vice-chancellor for the institution which already has chief executive officer interviewed and appointed by the same Federal Government is counter-productive and could lead to administrative crisis.

“The Governing Council ought to draw the criteria for the selection of vice- chancellor after the period of moratorium and qualified candidates should be made to sit for an interview where only the most suitable should be appointed.

Also, the college COEASU chairman, Dr. Samuel,Akintunde said Peters-King was not qualified to head the specialised institution.

According to him, he did not have basic qualification in teaching.

Akintunde said, “For this institution to be successful as a university, the appointment of the first VC should not be politicised. The new VC does not have any qualification in teaching and there is no way he would understand our language. This is a specialised university. The position of the VC has to be handled by a professional teacher.

“We are not speaking for anybody but the Federal Government has to follow a normal procedure in the appointment. A teacher cannot head a teaching hospital, so a round peg must be put in a round whole. We need a professional teacher as a head of affairs here to assist the university in this transition time.”