In polytechnics, chief lecturer has no equivalent, says ASUP

Following the disagreement over the shortlisting of professors for rectorship position at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), has maintained that there is no equivalence when it comes to the issue of chief lecturer as a rector in the polytechnic sector.

National President of ASUP, Comrade Usman Dutse, in an interview with The Guardian on the issue, explained that a chief lecturer is qualified for rectorship position in the polytechnic sector, while in the university setting, professors are qualified for vice chancellor’s position.

According to him, “The law establishing the polytechnic defined a rector as a chief lecturer and the person that is qualified for the position must be a chief lecturer and have five years working experience within the polytechnic. It is a condition stipulated by the law establishing the polytechnic. And a chief lecturer is not equivalent anywhere.

“There is a template designed by the Federal Ministry of Education which defined who should be the chief executive of these institutions. For the universities, it is professor, while for polytechnics; a chief lecturer must be the rector. So the issue of minimum requirement is just an interpretation for people that have interest. There is no minimum requirement for that. Whoever goes contrary to this condition it is a violation of the law.”

Members of ASUP, YABATECH chapter, had last week cautioned the governing council of the institution over its decision to interview three professors in the ongoing process of appointing a rector for the college.

ASUP Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Adetunji Omoba Orun, who addressed journalists on the issue, regretted that of all the chief lecturers in the nation’s polytechnics, the council could still look outside the sector.

He said, “We are we saying out of the polytechnics in Nigeria, among all the chief lecturers in Nigeria, we cannot have a credible chief lecturer. Every policy must wear human face. Any policy that retards our career in the polytechnic sub sector, we are saying no to it. Why should I invest my entire lifetime in a particular career that cannot put me at the peak of that particular career or that cannot put anyone of us at the peak of the career?