Re-inventing the Equity Debate: Issues in Balancing Merit with Inclusion in Leadership Selection in Federal Universities in Nigeria
Loading...
Date
2022-07-22
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BRILL
Abstract
In the conflicting pursuit of equity, the recession of non-indigenes in leadership positions in the nation’s federal universities is a major source of campus restiveness. This opinion article, derived from empirical research, therefore aims at bringing to the fore the substance and implications of the faulty inclusion politics and the politicised merit criteria deployed towards achieving equity in leadership selection in Nigeria’s federal universities. University of Ibadan and University of Jos were purposively selected for the study being the institutions with the most recent vice-chancellors' selection episodes riddled with identity-based conflicts in 2020/2021. In the two universities, key informant and in-depth interviews were conducted with prominent members of the respective institutions’ governing councils, staff unions, staff ethnic associations, and vice-chancellor candidates that were not appointed, all purposively selected being notable actors in the vice-chancellors’ appointments politics. With between 70% and 79% predominance of ethno-territorial indigenes in the institutions’ workforce, the original inclusion intent of Nigeria’s federal character principle was grossly handicapped in the leadership appointment politics. The merit assessment instruments deployed in vice-chancellors' selection processes had subjective items prone to biased scoring. These unfashionably culminated in the persistent return of indigene vice-chancellors in the two institutions for forty years.
Description
In this opinion article, derived from empirical research, I single out and bring to the fore the subverting of the original inclusion intent of Nigeria's federal constitution and the undermining of the merit prerogative of the university system on the issue of leadership selection, in which university principal officers' appointment has been reduced to catchment area politics ruled by patronage and clientelist practices by statesmen, politicians, and university academics. I argue for their reversal.
Keywords
Equity, Federal universities, Identity, Inclusion, Merit