President Bola Tinubu has been advised to extend the six month tenure of Prof Patricia Lar as vice chancellor of the University of Abuja.
A group of concerned academics in a joint statement issued on Monday in Abuja said the acting vice-chancellor has stabilised the university since her appointment in February.
Dr Godwin Okaneme of the department of philosophy, Dr Iheanyichukwu Ukpabi of the department of policy and strategic studies, Abuja Leadership Centre, and Dr Umoru Abdulrasheed Oseni of the faculty of education jointly signed the statement.
According to them, “What happened at the University of Abuja on the 6th of February 2025 was nothing short of divine intervention and we thank God for his mercies untold. We are grateful to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for his fatherly role and timely intervention that promptly saved our dear University from sinking into a crisis of horrendous magnitude. The President’s timely intervention was a rare demonstration and show of leadership that came when it mattered most.
“Prof Patricia Lar assumed office few days after her appointment and met an institution whose staff were highly demoralized, dejected and traumatized owing to the well known shenanigans of the past administration. The staff were also divided along several lines.
They noted that despite the crisis-ridden institution she met on assumption of office, she has been able to bring calm to the institution. In doing this, she has brought to bear her humane and kind disposition to every particular challenge she has encountered in the discharge of her herculean and onerous task of administering this institution. Through her dexterity and painstaking disposition, she has brought peace and calmness to the University.
“Prof Lar has within the past three months of being in the saddle changed the narrative of tribalism, religious bigotry, crass impunity and endless witch hunting of staff and has consciously given every staff equal opportunity to participate in her administration without any encumbrances. She has provided every staff a level playing ground to perform their statutory duties in an atmosphere of conviviality, friendliness, geniality, affability, amiability and congeniality.
“Prof Lar has maintained a friendly, benevolent and open door policy towards all academic and non-academic staff of the University. In addition to her plethora of daily engagements in the office, she has always created enough time to see staff who come to see her on daily basis. A lot of these staff have been privileged to see her without any unnecessary and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
“Unlike the past administration that spent so much of the University funds in hiring so many police and DSS operatives as guards to the Vice Chancellor making the University environment look like a war zone each time the Vice Chancellor was around, she has kept a low profile as far as security is concerned hence helping the University to save funds that would have been frittered away needlessly on her security.
“The concerned academics however appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the appointment of a Governing Council for the University to enable the institution run effectively and efficiently without encumbrances. This will no doubt make the remaining tenure of the Acting Vice Chancellor smooth and result-oriented.
“While we commend the Federal Government for its swift and decisive intervention that led to a change of guard in our institution, we wish to state clearly that it is not enough to dissolve the University’s Governing Council and dismiss the controversially elected Vice Chancellor. The Federal Government needs to set up a Visitation Panel to investigate the activities of the past management of the University especially on issues of illegal employment, illegal award of contracts and alleged admission sharp practices.
“It is good to place on record that the Acting Vice Chancellor has a tenure of six months. However there are still a lot of issues yet to be resolved and realistically these issues may require more time to resolve. Again putting into perspective the fact that the University does not yet have a Governing Council and also knowing that the Council has the statutory responsibility to advertise the vacancy for the new Vice Chancellor, it stands to reason that enough time will be needed to streamline the entire process to bring success to bear.
The lecturers insisted that the call is not based on any selfish sentiment but on critical and existential reality for what is worth doing is worth doing well.
