President Bola Tinubu is reportedly set to dissolve the governing council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka following controversies surrounding the appointment of Prof Bernard Odoh as the institution’s new vice-chancellor.
Odoh, announced as the seventh substantive Vice-Chancellor of UNIZIK on October 29, hails from Ebonyi State, where he unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2023 under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
His appointment has been mired in allegations of irregularities and questions about his academic credentials.
Odoh’s academic profile, published on the university’s website, claims he was a visiting professor at the Federal University Gusau (FUGUS), Zamfara State, between July 2015 and October 2017. However, FUGUS and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the institution denied these claims in separate letters responding to inquiries.
Additionally, prior to his appointment, UNIZIK’s ASUU chapter and the university’s Medical and Dental Consultants Association raised concerns about irregularities in the process, including the announcement of the vacancy and the recruitment process itself.
Three days after Odoh’s appointment, the Federal Ministry of Education nullified the decision via a memo dated November 1, 2024. The ministry accused the governing council, led by Greg Mbadiwe, of making the appointment without involving ministry representatives, internal council members and other stakeholders.
However, UNIZIK’s registrar and secretary to the council R.I. Nwokike defended the appointment, stating that the council acted in compliance with a court judgment empowering it to appoint the vice-chancellor.
Professor Odoh, in a public statement through his spokesperson, Charles Otu, disputed the ministry’s authority to nullify his appointment. He also maintained that he was a visiting professor at FUGUS in 2014 and was subsequently promoted to full professor of applied geophysics in 2015.
The national body of ASUU, through its president Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, described the appointments of both Odoh and the university’s registrar Rosemary Nwokike, as illegal, alleging they violated standard procedures, including advertisement, shortlisting and selection processes.
Premium Times reports that sources confirmed that Tinubu has approved the dissolution of the governing council of UNIZIK.
According to the report, minister of education Tunji Alausa is expected to make the official announcement soon.
