The Governing Council of Federal University, Lokoja, has disclosed that it has shortlisted 20 out of the 81 professors that applied for the vacant position of Vice Chancellor of the institution.
Chairman of the council, Senator Chris Adighije, who made the disclosure in a chat with journalists at the weekend, said the panel has maintained its earlier position by insisting that it goes for only the best among the many that applied for the post.
Senator Adighije noted that the council must not leave anyone in doubt in its quest to bequeath the young University with a new Vice Chancellor, who will not only improve the works of the outgoing VC, but take it to a greater height.
“The list has been pruned down to 20, out of the 81 that applied for the post. There was no dissenting voice among the selection board
“Of course we are looking for the best. Best means a combination of so many things . All that we are looking for is somebody we believe from our interaction can uplift the University from its present status. The outgoing VC has performed well, we hope the one coming in will do better.
“So we have a clear picture of what the person should be, who the person should be in terms of ability to deliver, so I wouldn’t know who will emerge out of the twenty shortlist candidates,” he said.
Reacting to reports that some ten Professors from a particular ethnic background in Kogi were disqualified in the first phase of the selection process, the Governing Council Chairman said,”strangely enough, I don’t know how they have that kind of information because the application didn’t come with that kind of tribal connotations, we dealt with names of those who applied, mostly professors and from the names we saw I don’t see how I or any member of the panel could have known where the applicants come from in Kogi State.
“We had applications from all over Nigeria and the chairman of the Shortlisting Committee comes from Kano. I wouldn’t know whether he himself could have interpreted the names in terms of tribe. I don’t know. But clearly the screening committee only has to place applications side by side the adverts requirements.
“Once a candidate meets all the conditions stipulated in the adverts, of course they went through. On the other hand if he fails on one of the criteria, he drops. So it has nothing to do with state or nationality or ethnic group.”
Senator Adighije went further to disclose that the final selection exercise will take place on December 17, adding that a new Vice Chancellor for the University will be unveiled on December 18.
