By Adeola Badru
The Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities, COPSUN, has urged Osun State Governor and Visitor to Osun State University, UNIOSUN, Ademola Adeleke, to halt what it described as the “illegal extension” of the tenure of the university’s Vice-Chancellor beyond the statutory five-year term.
COPSUN also called for the National Universities Commission, NUC, to be legally strengthened and empowered to exercise overriding regulatory authority over university administration nationwide.
The committee said professional regulatory bodies should be restricted to participating in NUC-led accreditation teams rather than conducting separate and overlapping regulatory exercises.
The resolutions were contained in a communique issued at the end of COPSUN’s 73rd quarterly meeting and signed by its Chairman, Prof. Ayodeji Omole, and made available to journalists in Ibadan.
On the UNIOSUN Vice-Chancellor’s tenure, COPSUN said it received a report that the Vice-Chancellor’s tenure had been extended by two years beyond the statutory five-year term through an executive pronouncement by the Visitor, with a proposal to amend the university’s law to legitimise the extension.
The committee described the reported development as contrary to the existing legal framework governing the university.
COPSUN resolved to formally notify Adeleke, as Visitor to the university, “regarding this illegality and the need to adhere strictly to the existing law of the University in line with the University Miscellaneous Act of 2012 as amended.”
It also urged the university’s Pro-Chancellor, who is a member of COPSUN, to ensure strict adherence to the law and due process in order to protect the integrity of university governance.
“The Pro Chancellor of the University, who is a member of COPSUN, is also urged to adhere to law and due process to safeguard the governance integrity of the university system,” the committee said.
The committee’s position on UNIOSUN formed part of wider concerns over what it described as increasing interference by professional regulatory bodies in the administration and governance of Nigerian universities.
COPSUN called on the NUC, as the regulatory authority for the university system, to take a more central role in university accreditation and regulation.
It argued that professional bodies should participate as members of accreditation teams led by the NUC rather than independently subjecting universities to multiple regulatory exercises.
The committee resolved that “the National Universities Commission (NUC), as the regulatory authority for the university system should be legally strengthened and empowered to exercise overriding authority over university administration nationwide with the professional bodies serving only as part of the accreditation team being headed by NUC”.
COPSUN said the position followed reports received from various state-owned universities concerning what it described as growing interference by professional regulatory bodies in university governance.
According to the committee, “COPSUN received the reports from our various universities over the growing interference of professional regulatory bodies in university governance. These organisations, though legally established and constitutionally empowered, subject universities to multiple overlapping exercises such as resource verification, accreditation, indexing, induction, and licensing.”
“These acts put a lot of pressure on the universities, leading to accreditation fatigue in most universities’ systems,” it added.
COPSUN maintained that centralising the accreditation process under the NUC, while retaining professional bodies within accreditation teams, would reduce the burden of multiple and overlapping regulatory exercises on universities and strengthen the coherence of the university system.
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