. Provost to resume official functions, return after over 30 days occupation of his office
Warring parties in the ongoing crisis at the Federal College of Education, Technical (FCET), Akoka, Lagos, on Thursday endorsed resolutions reached at a reconciliation meeting chaired by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tanko Yusuf Sununu.
Platforms Africa reports that the pact resolved that the key to the office of the provost should be released to the Chairman of the newly inaugurated Governing Council of the college “to allow for the Provost, Dr. Ademola Azeez, to resume his official functions.”
Part of the resolutions also included that the ongoing daily protest by the workers over the tenure of the provost should end immediately.
The agreement was signed by the Director of Colleges of Education in the ministry, Dr Uchenna Uba; the Chairman of the newly inaugurated Governing Council of the College, Dr. Adenuga Adeniyi Olatunde; Caretaker Chairman of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Ishola Lawal; Chairman of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education, Augustin Nwachukwu, and the Chairman of the Non-Academic Staff Union on the campus, Olasunkanmi Alonge.
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The minister had earlier on Thursday invited the provost and the representatives of the protesting workers to a reconciliation meeting scheduled to hold at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Apart from Dr Sununu who chaired the meeting, other ministry officials at the meeting included the Director of Special Duties in the ministry, Mr Zubairu Abdullahi.
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Also in attendance at the meeting were the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Paulinus Okwelle; Chairman of the Committee of Provosts of Colleges of Education, Faruk Haruna; NASU National Vice-President, Samuel Ogunmokun, among others.
Resolutions
The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper, said the governing council chairman should meet with the representatives of the staff of the college who were part of the meeting immediately after the reconciliation meeting yesterday night.
The meeting also mandated the new council to investigate the allegation of misappropriation of funds approved for the fencing of the college levelled against the college management by the workers.
“The Provost should be allowed to operate under the supervision of the Chairman of the Governing Council of the College whilst all staff seize to protest forthwith.”
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“On the state of offices of chief lecturers, the college should take immediate measures to improve the condition or allow them to go back to their former offices.”
It also mandated the governing council to “address the issue regarding the appointment of the bursar of the institution.”
Background
In May, the workers locked up the office of the provost and also issued him a quit notice from his official residence.
Led by the leadership of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN), FCET chapter, the protesters insisted that with the amendment of the Educational Colleges Act 2023, which introduced a five-year single term of office for provosts and other principal officers of the colleges, the tenure of Mr Azeez had ended on 26 May.
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However, the provost said he was appointed for the first term of four years in 2019, and that having been duly reappointed by the institution’s governing council in 2023, he already resumed his second term in office on 27 May 2023 before the amended act was signed into law on 12 June 2023.
Following letters by the unions seeking clarification on the tenure of office of the provost based on the amended act, the Minister wrote the unions in May, affirming the legality of Mr Azeez’s second term of four years.
But the protesters ignored the minister’s verdict, and continued to stage daily protests on the campus, denying management members access to their offices.
Platforms Africa
