Prof Maduebibisi Iwe, the Vice Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), has declared that the assessment and recommendations of Dr Philips Nto for promotion to the rank of a professor followed due process and extant regulations of the university.
He said only the Chairman of the Governing Council of MOUAU, Mr Fidelis Edeh, can explain to the world why Nto has not been promoted.
Recall that the promotion of Nto, a senior lecturer at MOUAU, to the rank of a professor, due in 2021, has remained unresolved, sparking prolonged controversy.
Edeh, through his representative at a recent press conference, had claimed that Nto jumped due process and had not exhausted the internal mechanism to resolve his issue.
But speaking to newsmen in his office, Iwe condemned in unequivocal terms the growing culture of interlopers.
He said he could not understand why those who are not academics should be discussing issues concerning the professorial assessment and appointment of an academic to the position of professor.
Iwe described as an aberration the practice whereby Edeh sent a non-academic to address the press on an exclusive academic matter which he was ignorant of.
” The person the Pro Chancellor sent to address the press on Nto’s matter is not knowledgeable.
“He is not an academic and doesn’t understand academic issues.
“He was therefore incompetent to talk on the issues, ” he insisted.
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Iwe also faulted Edeh for accusing him (VC) of not having presented Nto’s matter before now.
He explained that the university system is a dynamic one where the issue of appraisals and promotion come up regularly.
“There is no limit to the number of people the Council’s Committee on Appointment and Promotion presents to the council since we meet regularly,” he said.
He said what the committee did was to present the case of Nto to the council when it was due and had nothing to do with previously presented ones.
Iwe declared that Nto’s appraisal and recommendations for appointment and promotion as a professor followed due process and should not have caused confusion or controversy.
“What we did with the Nto’s case were done properly.
“The council committee duly recommended him following from what was presented from the department and the college, etc.,” Iwe insisted.
When reminded that Edeh said Nto’s matter was being investigated, Iwe denied knowledge of such an investigation.
He said there was no academic encumbrance to Nto’s promotion to the rank of a professor.
“Whatever that is making the case to linger, because it is still lingering, is only known to the Pro Chancellor,” he declared.
