The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has condemned the rising trend of senior administrative and technical staff converting to academic staff in Nigerian public universities without following due process.
The union’s President, Prof Christopher Piwuna, raised the concern during a press conference held at the Secretariat of the University of Jos branch of the union.
“The attention of our union has been drawn to the upsurge of Registrars, Bursars and other senior administrative and technical staff converting to academic staff in Nigerian public universities without following the due process,” Piwuna said.
According to him, these staff often lay claim to academic status simply because they underwent postgraduate programmes.
He cited instances where “Deputy Registrars with PhD degrees got converted to Lecturer I at the point of entry with personalized salaries.”
“There are also instances of Registrars being converted to Senior Lecturer or Reader on the excuse of presenting, some questionable publications and records of proxy teaching!” he added.
“ASUU finds this trend highly disturbing. We call on Vice-Chancellors and the National Universities Commission, NUC, to live up to their billing and put a firm stop to this anomaly,” Piwuna said.
He noted that the union is not against staff changing career lines within universities.
“However, non-teaching staff who wish to change to teaching/academic cadre shall normally participate in selection interviews guided by extant conditions and criteria, not by ‘arrangee’ conversions,” he stressed.
Piwuna further stated that universities must advertise such positions openly, allowing qualified internal candidates to apply alongside external candidates.
“In universities where the laws allow for conversion, it is usually treated as a fresh appointment into the academic cadre,” he said.
“While academic qualification is a pre-requisite for recruitment into lectureship, it is not sufficient,” he added.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
