Celebration, controversy in FCE Zaria over provost’s exit

The Federal College of Education (FCE), Zaria is in a state of uncertainty over the appointment of the Provost of the school days after the expiration of the incumbent’s tenure. reports the intrigues

Celebration and anxiety followed the federal government’s decision to delay the appointment of the next provost of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Zaria. The institution is the North’s premier college of education, hence many stakeholders showed interest in who steers its affairs.

The tenure of the immediate past Provost, Dr Abdullahi A. Ladan, expired on February 4, 2021. Since there was no formal communication reappointing Dr Ladan for a second tenure, the Deputy Provost of the college, Dr Suleiman Balarabe, is now discharging the duties of the provost.

Investigation by Daily Trust however revealed that the former provost, Dr Ladan, was the one who asked Dr Balarabe “to oversee the affairs of the college” pending the final decision of the federal government on who becomes the next helmsman.

While many staff of the college expressed happiness over the refusal of the federal government to allow Dr Ladan continue as the provost of the college, there is however palpable anxiety among the staff that the federal government may rescind its decision to reappoint.

Daily Trust’s investigation revealed that the reappointment of incumbent Provost for a second tenure usually followed certain known conventions and procedures. One of which is recommendation by staff’s unions.

Our correspondent established that the unions had refused to write this recommendation owing to the alleged “poor performance” of the former provost while in office, perhaps that was among the factors that informed the decision of the federal government to delay the reappointment of Dr Ladan, “envisaging a possible disruption of peace in the school.”

The chairman of the Senior Staff Union in Colleges of Education, Nigeria (SSUCOEN), Comrade Abdullahi Ibrahim, confirmed to Daily Trust that majority of his members are against the reappointing Dr Ladan.

Ibrahim added: “We were approached on many occasions to write the recommendation, but we refused for the fact that majority of our members are against it. Over 90 per cent of our members are against the reappointment of Dr Ladan. They have been categorical during our interactions with them.

“Many reasons are behind this development. The first is the issue of welfare of staff. Some staff are owed many allowances; some running to over a year. During his tenure, ordinary night allowances for staff on official duties were not paid. Some of these allowances are languishing in the bursary for over a year. We are not even talking about staff training, which was made to become something like family-relative-friends affairs. Some staff have spent years without training, while others are being sent frequently.”

In the event that the federal government refused to work with the majority sentiment and reappoint Dr Ladan, Ibrahim vowed that his union would do everything within its powers to ensure that they “fight the mismanagement that characterised Dr Ladan’s first tenure if repeated in the second.”

On his part, the chairman of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Comrade Halliru Musa, said his union is waiting for the arrival of the Visitation Panel set up recently by the federal government.

“We are just waiting for the Visitation Panel to start work.

We would go and table our grievances. When the Governing Council is formed. We will also ensure that we present our grievances. We have many issues and our members are not happy; this is the truth,” he said.

When contacted, the outgoing provost, Dr Ladan said like every human being, he has his admirers and those against his system of leadership.

“Those who said over 90 per cent of the staff are against me, which criteria did they employ to arrive at that conclusion. Have they conducted opinion polls among the staff or which data did they use?” he said. “Some people are not happy that I became provost for the first time. I have maintained sealed lips since I asked my deputy to oversee the affairs of the college pending the decision of the federal government and I would continue to maintain that position.”

However, interviews conducted with some of the staff of the institution revealed that, the college, which “used to be a model” for other colleges of education in Nigeria is now in a deplorable state.

A staff who pleaded for anonymity said: “Before his ascension to office, for example, the college had over 400 security casual staff with monthly salary of N18, 000. He reduced these security workers to 110 and slashed their salary to N10,000. Yet, he refused to pay them for about six months. This, in my view, brought about the rampant cases of stealing of the college’s properties, because he has starved those that are supposed to guard these properties. This is just one of the many injustices meted on us.

“Wallahi (I swear to Allah), if this man returns as the provost, the college will collapse. Presently, there is no water in the college. The college has been without tap water for over a year, until the last one week. In fact, there was massive corruption and mismanagement and because of these, the college is at a standstill. These are facts that anyone can go and verify.”

A driver in the college said some of them are owed travelling allowance (DTA) for about three years.

Another issue of concern to some of the staff interviewed is Dr Ladan’s alleged nonchalance.

A staff said: “From what I know, since his resumption as the provost, he has never worked in his office from Monday to Friday. He was always out of office. The few times he comes around, he does not stay in office for up to five hours. In a nutshell, things are in shamble and the college needs someone to rescue it.”

The investigation also showed that the academic standard was also declining in the college. It was found that students were made to write examination on foolscap or plain sheets instead of examination booklets.

“This is aside the deplorable nature of classes. Students’ hostels are an eyesore. It baffles many of us when we hear the amount taken out from the college’s coffers in the name of examination and the school cannot provide examination booklets not to talk of other necessities like reagents for laboratories et cetera. The position we find ourselves in is an unfortunate one that needs urgent action,” another staff said.

Staff of FCE, Zaria, Daily Trust observed, are anxiously waiting for the decision of the federal government, particularly the ministry of education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) on who should be the next helmsman of the college. For most of them, the college needs a strong hand to come out of the woods and regain its place of pride among its peers.