Nigerian college provost alleges threat to life as protesting workers lock up offices

The Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, Wahab Azeez, has accused some unionists on the campus of engaging in activities that constitute a threat to his life and his immediate family members.

He said the unionists, under the umbrella of “concerned staff” had locked up his office and offices of other management members since 27 May, claiming his tenure had ended as the college’s provost.

Mr Azeez, who spoke during a media briefing on Thursday evening, pointed accusing fingers at the Chairman and Secretary of the college’s chapter of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN), Augustine Nwachukwu and Kazeem Qadri respectively.

He said Messrs Nwachukwu and Qadri, among others, have consistently led daily protests for more than four weeks against his leadership of the college “over a tenure system that has since been clarified in my favour by the Federal Ministry of Education.”

The provost said apart from denying him entry into his office since 27 May, the protesters on Wednesday stormed his official residence on the campus and threatened to eject him within seven days.

“They even posted a banner on the building that I should vacate within the next seven days or that I would be forcibly removed from the building. That is the height of it. My family including my wife who is also a lecturer on the campus has been placed under serious threat,” Mr Azeez said.

But the protesting workers have denied the allegation of constituting a threat to either the life of the provost or his family members, saying their activities have been within the laid-down procedures for agitation and protests against what they perceived as improper conduct of the provost.

Speaking on the telephone with PREMIUM TIMES, the SSUCOEN Chairman, Mr Nwachukwu, said the protesters’ conduct has been civil.

How crisis started

Mr Azeez was appointed the provost of the college in May 2019 for a four-year term of office but his letter of reappointment for another four-year term in office was dated 23 January 2023. Following the new appointment by the government, Mr Azeez said he resumed the second term on 26 May 2023.

However, on 12 June 2023 an amended Federal Colleges of Education Act, 2023, which recommended a five-year single term for management officers education colleges nationwide, came into effect.

He said: “So some individuals who thought they would have the opportunity to become the provost if my second term was truncated by the new Act mobilised the workers against me and sought clarification from the Federal Ministry of Education.

“But because the Act came into effect after I had resumed, it clearly stipulates that all of us who already started our second tenure should finish the second term of four years. And this is the exact interpretation the ministry gave in its response to their letter.”

PREMIUM TIMES obtained copies of the letter addressed to the Education Minister, Tahir Mamman, by the workers and the response by the ministry which was signed by the Director of Legal Services, Enonebi Azorbo.

Dated 4 December 2023, and signed by both Messrs Nwachukwu and Qadri, SSUCOEN wrote Mr Mamman and sought an interpretation of the Act in connection with the tenure of office of principal officers of the college, particularly, the provost.

A similar letter written under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Staff Unions on the college was addressed to the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education.

The signatories to the letter by JAC were Messrs Nwachukwu and Qadri for SSUCOEN, and Chairman and Secretary of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Olasunkanmi Alonge and David Odukunle respectively.

Minister clarifies

Meanwhile, in its response to the inquiries dated 23 May, and referenced: SAF36/S.511/T/143/, the Minister of Education, Mr Mamman, explained the contents of the new Act and the interpretation by the ministry’s legal department.

Signed on behalf of the minister by the Director of the Legal Services Department of the ministry, Mr Azorbo, the letter reads in part: “The passage of the Federal Colleges of Education (amended) Act, 2023 provides for one single term of 5 years as tenure of office for the Provosts of Federal Colleges of Education as reflected in section 13 (6).

“The Act made further provisions to cover the appointments of those Provosts who have been appointed prior to the assent of the amended Act Section 13(7)(a)(b) provides: If on the commencement of this section, a Provost appointed before the commencement of this Act has held office for: (a) Less than five (5) years, the Provost shall be deemed to be serving the five – year single term and shall not have the right for the renewal of his appointment for a further term of four (4) years; and (b) more than five (5) years and serving the second term of office, be deemed to be serving the last term of office without any further extension.”

The minister said the sections referenced provided two scenarios for those appointed before the new Act came into force, and the other for those appointed after the act came into force.

“The second scenario which is the case at hand is where a Provost has completed the first tenure of four years and has been re-appointed for another tenure of four years when the amendment Act commences, he shall be deemed to be serving his last term of office of four years without further extension. The non-further extension in this case is that he cannot enjoy five years under the second tenure as enjoyed by the Provost in the first scenario. He will therefore complete the four-year term of the second tenure,” the minister further clarified.

The minister further noted that the wordings in the sections quoted are unambiguous “which does not require any other interpretation than the literal meaning. This suggests that the word in a status should be given their plain, ordinary, and literal meaning…”

NASU directs members to abide by the minister’s directive

Reacting to the interpretation offered by the minister, the leadership of NASU addressed a memo to its members urging them to comply with the minister’s directive and avoid any act of violence.

The notice, which was signed by the union’s secretary, Mr Odukunle, reads in part: “This is to inform NASU members that the FCE(T), Akoka branch received the final response to our joint letter with our sister union SSUCOEN from the Federal Ministry of Education referenced SAF 36/S.5ii/t/143 dated 23rd May 2024 which affirm the 2nd term of office for four years from 26th of May 2023.

“We, therefore, thank our members for their maturity and urge them to go about their activities within the college peacefully and shun any act that may disrupt the peace of the college as the Honourable Minister has finally spοken.”

JAC metamorphoses to ‘concerned staff’

Meanwhile, following the withdrawal of NASU leadership and other stakeholders from the agitation against the tenure of the provost, other workers, particularly the leadership of SSUCOEN continued the agitation under the umbrella of a new forum tagged “concerned staff.”

The protesters have since then continued daily assembly on the campus, resisting any attempt to reopen the locked offices.

Provost’s allegation

The provost accused the protesters of not only barring him from accessing his office but also mobilising forces against other workers and unions whose positions are against theirs by organising “illegal congresses and staged impeachment of officers of the unions.”

Mr Azeez said: “A few days ago, the protesters mobilised random students and said the President of the students’ union was impeached simply because the union’s leadership did not join their protest.

On Thursday, they threatened an impeachment process against NASU leadership for heeding the minister’s directive.

“They have also accused me of being dictatorial or being stubborn but despite their excesses not a single one among them has been queried or sanctioned. I have remained an activist all my life and that is why I have remained quiet over the matter. But I think they should know that I am still the chief security officer of the college and it is still my responsibility to provide security for staff and students. A few individuals cannot take laws into their hands.”

The provost said the official residence where the protesters had posted a quit notice for him was part of his many infrastructural projects on the campus, questioning how employees would have the “effrontery to constitute themselves to an illegal authority.”

He said he already submitted a petition against the protesters to the police command in Lagos State, and that he is awaiting the ministry’s directive “to avoid degeneration of the matter.”

No threat against provost’s life -Nwachukwu

The chairman of SSUCOEN, Mr Nwachukwu, told PREMIUM TIMES that the concerned staff do not agree with the response from the minister over the continued stay in office.

He said: “Before April this year, which was meant to be towards the end of the Dr Azeez-led administration, we agreed to endure his sole administrator style of leadership, not until the ministry replied to our letter that he should continue in office until 2027.”

“When they said the Act doesn’t remove him, we have not gone too far with our approach and nobody has threatened his life. This matter has consumed three people. As we speak, the entire Congress impeached the executives of COASU because they didn’t come out with the might of the union to oppose Azeez.

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“A few days ago, the secretary of the student union claimed she was coerced to say they have not been teaching them. The parliament has impeached the students’ union president for that. In summary, we don’t want Azeez to continue as provost. These issues have been on the ground for a long time and we were patient that at least next year, it would be over not until the ministry responded that it is until 2027.”

Ministry intervenes again

Towards addressing the conflict, the Federal Ministry of Education recently sent a delegation led by the Director of Colleges of Education Department, Uchenna Uba, to meet with the warring factions. The delegation visited the college on 12 June.

PREMIUM TIMES is aware that the report of the committee has been submitted to the minister, and the parties are currently awaiting the minister’s verdict.