By Comrade Rowland Okoh
Ominous signals are once again palpable in Federal University, Lokoja. The atmosphere is tense, the whispers are loud.
All indications point to yet another season in which the appointment of a Vice Chancellor risks becoming less of an academic process and more of a transactional venture.
With over 30 prospective candidates scheduled for interview this month, the fear remains that the entire exercise may turn out to be a mere formality, another “Cash ’N’ Carry” arrangement, where merit bows to money and integrity loses to gratification.
For a university that has existed for fifteen years, it is troubling that not a single internal professor has ever succeeded in the appointment process.
The common allegation is simple and disturbing, the financial burden of “winning the bid” is too heavy for any honest academic to carry. If true, it suggests that merit, experience, and dedication, qualities that should define leadership in any serious academic institution, have been pushed aside for inducement and influence peddling.
This is unacceptable, and it is time to challenge this system boldly. The University Council must understand that its credibility is on trial. If the coming process descends once more into monetized negotiations, then it is not just the Council that loses honour, it is the entire institution that suffers. The Council exists to safeguard the university’s integrity, not to preside over auctions of its most important office. A transparent, objective, and competitive process is not too much to demand. The Council must resist any attempt, internal or external, to compromise fairness. Federal University, Lokoja deserves leadership chosen by merit, not by the weight of an envelope.
At this crucial moment, the management and especially the current Vice Chancellor must refrain completely from intimidation and meddlesomeness. The Vice Chancellor should not be seen to be openly or covertly supporting any candidate against others. A sitting VC who throws his weight behind an aspirant automatically contaminates the process and destroys confidence in its fairness. Unless he has anything to hide, neutrality should be his hallmark. The university community deserves the assurance that the VC is not attempting to influence the outcome or shield himself through a preferred successor.
Management also bears responsibility for ensuring that the process is credible. Passive silence in the face of a tainted recruitment system is a form of complicity. It must insist on a process that reflects the institution’s values and protects its long term stability. A Vice Chancellor chosen through dubious means will govern through dubious means. When the foundation is corrupt, the structure cannot stand straight.
There is great advantage in choosing a Vice Chancellor from within the university system, someone who understands its history, culture, challenges, and opportunities. Internal candidates are invested emotionally and professionally in the growth of the university. They have demonstrated commitment by serving over the years under difficult conditions. They understand the gaps and potentials better than outsiders.
They are better positioned to reduce administrative turbulence and ensure leadership grounded in institutional experience.
When a university constantly rejects its own professors, not for lack of competence but due to alleged financial politics, it demoralizes the academic community and weakens institutional pride. It creates a message that loyalty and service amount to nothing, and that only external “investors” can buy their way to the top.
Federal University, Lokoja is no longer a toddler institution. At fifteen years, it should be striving toward academic distinction, attracting global partnerships, and building strong internal faculties. But this ambition will remain a mirage if leadership selection continues to be driven by clandestine interests and gratification. The university must seize this moment to restore faith in its governance systems. The Council must resist the pressure to commercialize the process, and Management must insist that the best candidate, not the richest, emerges as Vice Chancellor.
The stakeholders of FUL, staff, students, alumni, host community, and the Nigerian public, are watching. The integrity of a whole generation’s academic future depends on the decision that will be made in the weeks ahead. Federal University, Lokoja must choose honour, it must choose merit, it must choose a Vice Chancellor who emerges through fairness, not through financial muscle.
The time for a new standard is now.
Rowland Okoh, a political stakeholder in Kogi State, writes from Port-Harcourt.
