The Admiralty University of Nigeria (ADUN), owned by the Nigerian Navy, is currently enmeshed in a crisis over the appointment of a substantive vice-chancellor.

The university management on Friday announced the appointment of Christopher Ogbogbo, a professor of African History at the University of Ibadan, as the preferred choice out of the top three candidates nominated by the Joint Selection Board of the institution’s governing council.

A statement signed by the university’s Registrar, Isaac Mankilik, a retired commodore, noted that the decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the Governing Council on Friday.

But the Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, Dele Ezeoba, a retired vice-admiral and Nigeria’s former Chief of Naval Staff, has distanced himself from the appointment, describing it as “illegal.”

He said he has briefed the federal government on the outcome of the clean process that involved a global human resource advisory company, KPMG; the joint selection board, and the governing council of the university. He noted that on the list of the top three candidates, the announced candidate wasn’t ranked first, and that there was no reason to leave the person in the first position for someone with a lower score.

A source at the Federal Ministry of Education who does not want to be quoted initially denied such a development could happen, but later confirmed the controversy.

The source later told PREMIUM TIMES that the ministry’s position would be made public within the next 12 hours, describing the university’s action as inappropriate and illegal.

How it started

Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES indicated that on 7 October 2024, the university advertised for the position of a vice-chancellor. At the deadline for application, a total of 52 applicants showed interest.

The Governing Council, therefore, tasked KPMG to screen the 52 applicants following the guidelines listed in its advertorial placed in Nigerian dailies.

This newspaper learnt that at the end of its exercise which included written tests, a total of five applicants were shortlisted and presented to the Governing Council for further screening.

The five shortlisted candidates are Lucian Chukwu, a professor of Marine Biology and current deputy vice chancellor (Management Services) at the University of Lagos; Sunny Iyuke, a professor of Chemical and Process Engineering and chief executive officer of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State; Lawrence Omo-Aghoja, provost of the College of Medicine, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka; Ifeoma Ijeh, a professor of Biochemistry and director of the Centre for Molecular Bioscience and Biotechnology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, and Mr Ogbogbo.

Meanwhile, at an extraordinary meeting held on 10 February, the Governing Council constituted the “Joint Selection Board (JSB) to interview five (5) shortlisted candidates for the position of Admiralty University of Nigeria (ADUN) Vice-Chancellor with the following terms of reference: interview and evaluate the top five shortlisted candidates; select the best three (3) from the top five (5) shortlisted candidates, and present to council for consideration.”

The nine-member joint selection committee, which was chaired by the council’s chairman, Mr Ezeoba, also has others including A Ogunleye, retired rear admiral; Dili Ofuokwu, a professor; Emmanuel Okwechime, a professor; GSM Aligwe, a rear admiral, and OA Odiansiye, a captain.

Others are Mary Omokhomion, who represented the Federal Ministry of Education in the council; Moses Anaughe, who represented the Federal Character Commission to observe the process, and the university’s registrar, Mr Mankilik.

Between Monday 24 and Wednesday 26 February, the joint selection board interviewed the five candidates and ranked them based on their performances.

The report of the board, a copy of which PREMIUM TIMES obtained, was signed by all the nine members.

The report, which was presented to the council in the afternoon of Wednesday, 26 February, during its extraordinary meeting, ranked the five participants based on their score.

According to the report, Mr Chukwu scored 83.41 per cent; Mr Ogbogbo (72.5 per cent); Ms Ijeh (69.16 per cent); Mr Iyuke (60.83 per cent), and Mr Omoh-Aghoja scored 59.5 per cent.

Council meeting deadlocked

According to insiders, following the presentation of the report by the selection committee, members of the Governing Council expressed different opinions on the choice of the vice-chancellor among the three.

Meanwhile, based on the criteria set by the selection board, the pass mark set for the interview was 70, as those who scored below 70 were deemed to have failed.

However, while the chairman insisted that merit should be followed and that the candidate with the highest mark should be declared, some members of the council insisted that Mr Ogbogbo, who scored 72 per cent should be announced.

The situation led to a stalemate and the Governing Council meeting ended without announcing the candidate.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that on Thursday, 27 February, the chairman of the council reported the development to the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, who reportedly instructed that a report should be filed and that the ministry would take an appropriate action.

“Illegal council meeting?”

Meanwhile, on Friday, while Mr Ezeoba and some other members of the council were outside Delta State, where the university is located, a few members of the council convened a meeting of the council, which it tagged an “extraordinary meeting.”

Sources confirmed that most of the attendees at the meeting were either serving or retired naval officers including the university’s registrar, Mr Mankilik, a retired commodore.

At the end of the meeting on Friday, Mr Mankilik issued a statement announcing the appointment of Mr Ogbogbo as the institution’s second substantive vice-chancellor.

Council chair kicks

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ezeoba described the Friday meeting as a ‘kangaroo’ meeting.

He said: “That exercise, whatever they have done is illegal, don’t engage with them please. This is because the Honourable Minister of Education, who is the supervising entity, instructed that the exercise should be halted until further notice. Whatever they have done is illegal.

“I respect your investigative journalism because what you have just done is the right thing to do. If a pro chancellor said the exercise must be based on merit because that is the essence of this country to move forward, somebody cannot come first in a system that is supposed to be merit-based, and you want to take someone else above that person. This was an exercise that was supported and followed through by KPMG, the highest human resource agency in this country.”

He said a transparent interview process by the joint selection board saw every member unanimously endorsing the report. “So if you are to choose someone else apart from the person that came first, there must be a reason- is it gender, federal character or what?”

Registrar keeps mum

When contacted on Friday, the university’s registrar, Mr Mankilik, expressed surprise that this journalist was already aware of the development and sought to know the newspaper’s source. But when the journalist insisted on protecting the source, the registrar said he should be given 30 minutes to revert.

More than three hours after his pledge Mr Mankilik was yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’s inquiry. He also did not pick subsequent calls to his mobile line.

Meanwhile, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo, said she could not comment on the matter at the moment but pledged to find out the true situation.

Not unusual

The situation at the naval university is not unique as the government has been confronted with high-wire politicking over selection of principal officers in various Nigerian universities.

Recently, President Bola Tinubu dissolved the governing council of the Yakubu Gowon University, formerly University of Abuja and removed its Vice-Chancellor, Aisha Maikudi, a professor of Law.

A similar decision was made regarding the appointment of Bernerd Odoh as the Vice-Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

courtesy; pemiumtimes