College of Education Provostship: when will Commissioner for Education do the needful?

My most recent publication on the College of Education(COE), Akamkpa bordered on the need for competent individuals of Cross River Central Senatorial District to be given a shot at office of the provost. See: College of Education Provostship: The South & the rest us: a case for C’River central http://www.negroidhaven.org/2017/02/college-of-education-provostship-south.htmlutm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&m=1

My latest findings has it that the incumbent provost in acting capacity of COE, Akamkpa, Chief P. O. Abiam, has overstayed his welcome having spent over six months in office after Associate Professor Bassey Ejue served his full term of five years as provost. 

The question begging for answer is this, if Section 3.14. (captioned Acting Appointment) of the Rules, Regulations and Conditions of Service of Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa which reads in part thus, ‘An Acting Appointment… Will normally be made only in order to fill a post that is temporarily vacant and the duration should not exceed six months’ and Section 3.14.2 which reads thus: ‘Where a temporary vacancy occurs in the institution when no staff of corresponding substantive rank is available to fill the vacant post, any other staff may be notified in writing to act in the higher position for a continuous period of not more than six months and at the end of which period the staff reverts to his former position’, is anything to go by, why is Chief Abiam still the Acting Provost of the said college having spent beyond six months as at March 2017 ending? Why has the said chief not reverted to his former position according to the rules and regulations? 

According to section 3.18.1 of the Rules, Regulations and Conditions of Service recently cited (labeled Appointment of the Provost) it is clearly stated that, ‘The appointment of the Provost shall be done by the State Governor through the recommendation of the Governing Council…’, it suggests that the process for the selection of the new provost was supposed to have been kick-started midway into the tenure of the incumbent provost in acting capacity without which the Governing Council of the affected tertiary academic institution may not recommend an anticipated Provost. 

Put differently, there was supposed to have been Advertisements in reputable media houses calling for entries from interested candidates, after which there would have been a Selection of a handful who would then be Interviewed and from then Recommendation by the Governing Council to the Governor who then appoint a successful candidate. As I noted earlier, this was supposed to have taken place midway into Chief Abiam’s six months, implying that since January 2017 the Commissioner for Education was supposed to have prompted the commencement of this process. But, alas! Nothing has been done! Instead, after the statutory six months the system is moribund. Will Chief P. O. Abiam be Provost in acting capacity forever? If as at the seventh month Abiam is still acting it seem to me that he will continue there until December 2017 in flagrant contravention of the Rules, Regulations and Conditions of Service of the COE, Akamkpa which state in Section 3.14 that, ‘An Acting Appointment is not intended as a means of testing the suitability of staff for promotion. They will normally be made only in order to fill a post that is temporarily vacant and the duration should not exceed six months.’

If the provisions of the Rules, Regulations and Conditions of Service of COE copiously cited hitherto are elusive to His Excellency the Governor of Cross River State has it also evaded the Honourable Commissioner for Education Mr Godwin Ettah? Or, could it be that Commissioner Ettah is actually aware but is understandably constrained by some pecks he may be enjoying already? Or, could it be that the alleged lobbying of the Chairman of Council, Dr. Steve Adah, for the Ag. Provost is yielding fruits already? It has come to public knowledge that the Chairman of the Governing Council of COE, Akamkpa, Dr. Adah, being a cousin to the Executive Governor of the state is rooting for the elongated stay of the Ag. Provost. His alleged lobby seems to have been working already. 

Meanwhile, there’s chaos in the institution probably because there’s no substantive Provost. On Monday this week a 100 level student of School of Languages, an alleged cultist popularly referred to as Dinho was butchered to death in cold blood! The security on campus has degenerated drastically. 

I suggest that the Governor should terminate the acting capacity of Chief Abiam, initiate the process of appointment of a new provost by appointing a new acting provost. Again, every financial transaction transpiring under the authority of the present provost in acting capacity should be deemed illegal, with his tenure having expired.