The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has been called to sack the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesome Wike over his attempts to unilaterally impose and install a successor for the outgoing Rector of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Uwana,Prof. Francis Otunta.
Otunta will bow out of office on June 12 this year having put in eight years as the head of the institution.
In a statement by the state chairman of the union, Comrade Edmund Onyencho in Abakaliki, the union described the action of the minister as sustained interference and disregard for the law and due process in handling the internal affairs of the school, especially in the process of the appointment of rector for the institution, stressing that the new rector cannot emerge outside the polytechnic system.
The union said, “ASUP demands that a rector be appointed from the system. This demand is legitimate and for the avoidance of doubt, section 7(1)-(6) of the Federal Polytechnic Act 1979 (as amended) stipulates that the person to be appointed rector must be a chief lecturer.
“Can a Senator be brought to be Speaker of the House of Representatives or can an army General be made the Chief of Air or Naval staff? If not, why should a university professor be appointed rector of a polytechnic where we have many chief lecturers?
Source: Guardian
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