Academic Professors React to ASUU over Pantami’s Professorial status

Academic Professors React to ASUU over Pantami’s Professorial Status

More academic professors have reacted to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its stance on the conferment of professorial status on the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO).

Recently, a Professor of Industrial and Commercial Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (San) , Joe Abugu faulted ASUU’s rationale that Pantami shouldn’t be a professor since he was not a lecturer in the university.

In a position paper titled: ‘Of University Autonomy, Meddlesomeness of ASUU and its War Against Prof. Ibrahim Isa Pantami’, Abugu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, argued that the local chapter of ASUU did an excellent job in reminding the public that FUTO duly advertised the vacant positions in credible national dailies, and when Pantami applied, the relevant bodies vetted his credentials and gave him the appointment on merit.

He argued further that all over the world and in Nigeria as well, there are no strict general rules guiding the procedure for a professorial appointment that all universities in a country must obey, adding that each institution of learning sets its own rules and that the Vice-Chancellor also has certain discretionary powers to use when necessary.

Below are more reactions by academic professors on the debate.

Pantami Meets Global Minimum Standards for Professorship
By Professor Bukola Oyeniyi

As you would have seen in my profile, I was a head of department in two Nigerian universities and have gone through the system in three continents.

When an advert reads “Internal and External”, it means that anyone can apply. That is what gave me my job in South Africa and the United States of America. I responded to advertisements in both cases and competed with people both within and outside these two countries.

Dr. Pantami responded to an advertisement and the FUTO Senate found him adequately qualified for the position that he applied for. Before his appointment could be formalized, the Governing Council, the highest decision-making body in any university across the world, found his appointment satisfactory.

So, what are you then saying?

Is it that:

(i) the advertisement to which he responded to was an internal advertisement?

(II) the FUTO Senate – the highest decision-making body on academic staff appointments and promotions in all Nigerian universities – did not recommend his appointment?

(iii) is that there was/is a protest within the FUTO Senate that laid-down procedures were not followed?

Have you heard of ‘Secondment’ before? Can people be seconded to work elsewhere other than their original place of work? Was Dr. Pantami not seconded from his Saudi Arabia university to work with Nigerian government in much the same way that Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi was seconded to head Unilag and later the United Nations University in Tokyo? Did he not retain his office at the University of Ibadan during these years?

What then makes Dr. Pantami’s case an aberration?

Talking about qualification for the post, permit me to ask: What is the qualification for being a Full Professor?

While i await for your response to this, I want to state clearly that the following are the standard and minimum qualifications GLOBALLY:

(i) possession of a terminal degree;
(ii) records of continuous university teaching – each university sets number of years;
(iii) records of research in peer-reviewed journals, monographs, etc.
(iv) records of public service

The rest are just icing on the cake.

Did Dr. Pantami meet these basic requirements?

(i) possession of a terminal degree – YES, he has a PhD
(ii) records of continuous university teaching – each university sets number of years – YES. He taught in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia before being seconded to serve as a Minister.
(iii) records of research in peer-reviewed journals, monographs, etc. – YES, his CV will attest to this
(iv) records of public service – YES. See how this is calculated below.

To determine eligibility on the three areas of Research, Teaching and Public Service; points are awarded, with different universities awarding different points for different records of each of the three.

For instance, on service, each lecturer must take up service position in the Department, Faculty/College, and University Committees. Each of these are awarded differently, with University-wide committee attracting much higher points.

The same applied to records of research – authoring and publishing books either as single-author or co-author have different points as compared to writing a chapter in edited volumes or publishing a journal article.

So, what is the bottomline here: you are not qualified to judge whether or not Dr. Pantami is qualified and neither does ASUU, as neither of you have access to his portfolio. Or, do you have access to what he submitted for the position he applied for? If you dont, on what basis are your evaluation?

I hope we wont have any need to come back to this issue.

NOTE
Bukola A. Oyeniyi, of Missouri University, is a historian of African History, with specialization in Africa’s social and cultural history in the early nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. He is coauthor of Culture and Customs of Libya.
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On Ali Pantami’s Professorship.
By Prof. M. U. Bunza

I think we need a rethink in our actions and statements. I could remember in early 2002 as branch Chair if ASUU at NEC meeting of UNN exco brought the professorship case of late Dora Okunyelu DG NAFDAC protesting her promotion to the chair. ASUU then refused to join in the case as purely administrative issue which the University Management should be advised to observe due process if not followed. At what ever rate not a union matter.

From what I observed since appointment of Professor Pantami as Minister many reactions are clearly biased and sentimental. I suggest ASUU as a trade union which we hold high esteem should concentrate on that. should encourage it members and support them to achieve and deliver in their mandates .

The CV of Professor Pantami I went through no University any where in the world would not want have his profile on it’s website. Professorship is an achievement and this gentleman has won it by merit.

Let us celebrate him as our own whose meritorious accomplishments as Minister and academic has been the envy of most and has made serious university professors proud that we can do it differently.

NOTE:
Mukhtar Umar Bunza is a Professor of Social History, Department of History Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. He obtained a PhD in History the from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. He was a Fellow of LEVENTIS Postdoctoral Research, SOAS, University of London, ISITA Fellow, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA, and SACRI Fellow for Summer School at Babes Bolyai University, Cluj. Romania
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Conditions for Appointment of Professors MUST Change
By Aliyu Mohammed Paiko

Obviously, the Triple Helix model of Innovation that the National Universities Commission (NUC) is advocating and promoting, and which is the current global best practice, is strange to a lot of people. The courage of FUTO and Pantami to practically actualize this in our University system needs to be encouraged and applauded, NOT criticised ignorantly by even the so-called experts in the academia.

In concepts such as the Knowledge Economy, the Triple Helix model of innovation seeks to promote interactions between the Academia, industry and Government in order to Foster Economic and Social development.

Therefore, the model is conceived such that the 3 different bodies collaboratively play their roles to ensure that innovation is fostered and development eventually occurs.

Those following this development therefore, would not be surprised when recently, NUC is promoting that Professors in the Academia shouuld go on their Sabbaticals to Industries or Government Regulatory agencies like NUC, Tetfund, NNPC, RMRDC etc., instead of the old practice of going to other universities. Similarly, University Councils and Senates are being encouraged to appoint as Tenure, Visiting or Adjunct Professors from highly experienced professionals in the Industry or Government, to come into the university from time to time, to share industry or policy experiences with the students (Ask the Directorate of Entrepreneurship).

This, it is envisaged, would go a long way to promote innovation by giving students additional perspectives. Time it was when Professors of building Engineering, Robotics, Computer science, Business Administration, History, or any discipline for that matter were mere theorists with little or NO practical experience or expertise. Working collaboratively with experienced industrial or Government policy practitioners is thus envisaged to change all that and if students are added to the equation, they would be better for it.

I am therefore not surprised that Pantami, as the minister of the Digital Economy and one of the Champions of the Knowledge Economy in Nigeria is taking a lead in this direction. Further, that this is happening with a University of Technology, the story cannot be more comprehensive.

Reading Pantami’s acceptance letter and noting that he was placed on a different Salary scale and to which he declined to receive payment and also confirming that the President was aware of his appointment, should ordinarily have made people curious, to find out what was going on, instead of the ignorant condemnations, very uncouth masturbations that greeted the situation.

We Nigerians have severally challenged the Nigeria education system to be more innovative and asked for introduction of new perspectives to improve our graduates to make the economy better. We have condemned our academic system as declining or becoming more outdated and sometimes, you read that our graduates are unemployable because they lack relevant industry or policy experiences. Thus, as much as we always clamour for change and are not willing to change or accept changes in the way things are done, surely change can only continue to elude us or remain a mirage. We are not still in the stone age, when in Nigeria, Professors were only teachers using old text books or sat underneath trees, dreamed up data and got them published in International journals of everything for everyone, at Samaru or Nsuka or Ibadan printing press. We are in the 21st century when an undergraduate project has become a product that makes life easier for millions of people globally.

Our understanding of Research must expand, as Innovation, which will change lives may not necessarily be the product of only a Professor’s moulded ideas inside the walls of a University alone.

We must recognise that collaboration, synergy and multi disciplinary thinking are the best approach to practical innovation. To that extent therefore, it becomes pertinent that we modify our definition of who a Professor is, to also include professionals in the industry and in Policy positions in Government that have lots of experience to share (teach) to students, to improve our economy. Academia must open its doors to accommodate experts of industry and experienced policy makers, as co-teachers, fellows, or Visiting Professors. The world is changing fast, and so should our perspectives and our definitions.

Consequently, based on these premises, and as promoted by NUC the regulatory body for University Education in Nigeria, my opinion is that Isa Pantami is eligible to be appointed as Professor and FUTO deserves our accolade for taking the bold step. Others should follow and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) needs to be told clearly to stop dabbling into issues outside their mandates. They are not remotely responsible for appointment of, or promotion to Professor in the university system. As even when committees are set up to review conditions of appointment or promotion of Academic staff, the process starts in the Senate to draw members, goes to management Committee before being sent to the Governing Council for approval.

Aliyu Mohammed Paiko is a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Dept. of Biochemistry, IBBUL

By PRNigeria