Open letter to minister of education

August 29, 2025 by Our Reporter

• By Professor Kabir Àlàjó

Sir: Within the two years of your saddle in the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you have taken the bull by the horn through bold reforms and pragmatic national policies in the education sector. Prior to your tenure in the Federal Ministry of Education, what had existed were policies, many of which are jaded and outdated, constricting the development of education sector in the country.

Through your initiatives and backing of the president, Nigeria is beginning to reclaim its status as one of the best countries in the African continent with sound educational systems and opportunities.

From the Diaspora BRIDGE initiative to the N50 billion settlement of long-standing Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), you have redefined the conversation about policy articulation in the education sector in such a way that was never seen before in recent time.

The ranging reforms aimed at enhancing corporate compliance and unified governance structure in the country’s tertiary institutions is a legacy that future reviews of Nigeria’s education policy will remember you for.  Those reforms have done a great deal of service in enabling best global practices in not just how the leadership in the tertiary institutions are recruited, but also streamlined the protocols for a system-wide format of administration.

While the review of the appointment of Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi as the substantive vice-chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri was the catalyst for those reforms, the current situation at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti would be a litmus test of whether those reforms could stand the test of time.

In April of this year, the substantive vice-chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Sunday Fashina embarked on his accumulated annual leave. The decision of the vice-chancellor to proceed on leave followed a turbulent session of sexual harassment allegation against him, which the Governing Council thoroughly investigated and made its report.

Since then, a management team led by Professor Olubunmi Shittu has run FUOYE with gleaning meticulousness.

 The twist in the mix now is that there are vested interests within and outside of the university who are bent on frustrating the return of Professor Fashina on the one hand, and on another hand, scheming to make Professor Shittu’s acting tenure extended and making him become the substantive vice-chancellor.

The antics of these elements are ultra vires as they negate the noble principles of the reforms put in place about leadership succession in Nigerian universities by your esteemed self, acting under the authority of the president and visitor of the university.

For emphasis, it was announced by the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Folashade Boriowo, that the federal government had stopped acting VCs, rectors, provosts from contesting substantive positions, and, according to the statement, the directive became necessary following a pattern of undue advantages observed over the years, “where officers serving in acting capacities often leverage their positions to influence appointment outcomes, thereby compromising the fairness and transparency of the selection process.”

The policy stipulates that any officer serving in an acting capacity as vice-chancellor, rector, or provost shall not be eligible to apply for the substantive position while still holding the acting appointment.

Such officers may choose to recuse themselves from their acting position before the expiration of their non-renewable six months tenure, thereby becoming eligible to apply for the substantive roles.

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Why the situation in FUOYE is pivotal to the implementation of this policy is because it is the specimen for the laboratory test in the viability of the policy, given the fact that the acting vice-chancellor in FUOYE was appointed on April 14, barely a week after the policy was announced.

It may interest you to know that same forces who championed the sexual harassment scandal against the substantive vice-chancellor of FUOYE are currently retooling to embark on sponsored public protests to forestall the return of the VC to his position after the expiration of his research leave, instigating leadership crises in the university and projecting to counter government’s policy on leadership recruitment protocols.

It needs be stressed at this juncture, that the Governing Council did not find the substantive VC, Fashina, guilty of the charge and it has become clear by recent developments, that the scandal was contrived to make the vice-chancellor a cannon fodder in a sinister campaign of having a native as vice-chancellor of FUOYE.

We urge you, honourable minister not to allow parochial interests to override the broader objective of justice and fairness that underpin the lofty policies that you have put in place in the governance structure of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

•Professor Kabir Àlàjó,

United States.

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