Trouble seems to be brewing at one of the tertiary institutions in Adamawa, the College of Education Hong, over a recent advertisement for the office of the Provost of the institution, as some stakeholders observed that there is a strange alteration in the age requirement as advertised, as the adverts requires 59 years instead of 55 years for Provost against the prescription of National Commission for Colleges of Education.
The adverts which was published in The Scope papers of 24th-30th, 2021, threw caution to the wind and maliciously altered the statutory requirements for the appointment of provost by bumping up the age criteria from 55 years to 59 years, in obvious attempt to edge out some eligible candidates out of the contest, a curious observer told Daily Rendezvous.
Rendezvous reliably gathered that, Section 2.8.1 of the colleges of Education Titled, “CRITERIA FOR APPOINTMENT” explicitly states that, “To be eligible for appointment as a Provost of a College of Education, the candidate must:
“(i) Be a Chief Lecturer of at least Five (5)-years cognate experience
“(ii) Not be more than 55 years at the time of assumption of duty.”
The above guideline as set by the National Commission for Colleges of Education stipulates that eligible candidates for the Office of the Provost must possess a “PhD” degree and must be at least “55” years old and contrary to what was advertised which bumps the age bracket by five years for reasons best known.
In this age and time where, younger generations of Nigerians have been clamouring for opportunities for young persons in public offices of leadership, with campaigns such as “Not-Too-Young-To-Run,” it is however, strange to see an adverts for leadership position in an institution of learning attempting to eliminate younger aspirants from occupying leadership institutions.
No one in Adamawa state right now, is in any doubt as to the leadership mindset of the present Adamawa state Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, which seeks to place young persons in the driving seat of leadership and the spirit of this adverts works contrary to the mindset of forward mindset of Fresh Air government.
While the basic principle here should be that of eligibility, competence and integrity to move that institution forward, this strange age bracket that targets younger, eligible candidates needed to be thrown out to allow for free and fair contest, regardless of ones age bracket.
It is of note that the current EFCC chairman is a young man of forty years, hence, it should only make sense that even the academic institutions need to review their leadership position criteria downward, to give younger, visionary and dynamic academicians the opportunity.
In my opinion, it should be reviewed from 55 years down to 40 years.
