Women take backstage in appointment of vice-chancellors

 

CHARLES ABAH writes on odds against women dons in the race for the position of vice-chancellors in Nigeria

The portraits on the wall of the common room at the Senate building of the 67-year-old University of Ibadan say it all. From its first indigenous Vice-Chancellor, the late Prof. Kenneth Dike, to the present one, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the portraits are those of men.

This scenario is, however, not peculiar to the nation’s oldest university established in 1948. The pictures found in corridors and common rooms at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to mention a few, reveal much also about the male-dominated culture in the administration of Nigerian universities.

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UNILAG profile, for instance, shows that from 1962 till date, it has been an all-male affair. Professors Eni Njoku (1962-1965); Saburi Biobaku (1965-1971); Jacob Ajayi (1972-1978); Babatunde Adadevoh (1978-1980); Akinpelu Adesola (1981-1988); Nurudeen Alao (1988-1995); Jelili Omotola (1995-2000); Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe (2000-2007); Tolu Odugbemi ( 2007-2010); Babatunde Sofoluwe (2010-2012); and Rahmon Bello (2012 to date).

In fact, apart from the University of Benin, where Prof. Grace Alele-Williams (1985 and 1991) became the first female Vice-Chancellor of an African university, the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, where Prof. Comfort Ekpo is the VC, no female has held forte in the over 40 federal universities in the country. Analysts posit that the same trend occurs in many of the state universities, where Prof. Jadesola Akande of the Lagos State University seems to be a vivid example.

The women folk are not even finding comfort in the private universities. Of the over 60 private universities, it is only Dr. Margee Ensign, the current President of the American University of Nigeria, owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, that is a female VC. Hitherto, Prof. Aize Obayan had superintended the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State between 2005 and 2012.

Reviewing the development, a former lecturer of International Relations at the OAU, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, links it to what he describes as a deeper manifestation of reality of the today’s world.

According to him, there is no deliberate government policy in Nigeria or elsewhere, to marginalise the female folk from being in charge at the top echelon of university administration.

He adds, “If not for the Suffragette Movement, which gave voting rights to women in Europe and America and made them to rise, there was a time it looked as if society shut them out. Even early democracy in Greece excluded women. In Nigeria too, in 1959, women did not vote, especially in northern Nigeria.

“So, it is not just exclusion in the academia but also in all aspects of life. There was a time that institutions, such as Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford, were not admitting women. In truth, the reality we see today is merely a consequence of historical exclusion and marginalisation by a patriarchal society.”

A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the OAU, Prof. Funmi Togonu-Bickersteth, concurs with Soremekun. Togonu-Bickersteth, who acknowledges that men hold the ace in running the nation’s universities, also admits that there is no deliberate that exclude women.

In her thinking, the “yawning gap” exists because there are few top females on the academic ladder.

The former DVC says, “There is no deliberate policy anywhere to marginalise women from being VCs in any of the federal universities, at least that I know. But if you take a historical perspective of events in the sector, you will see that there may have been a few female academics at the top positions.

“Again, you cannot rule out the cultural inhibition. We have a patriarchal society. Even in terms of numbers, the male professors outnumber the female ones. And there may be the tendency to think that why a woman would be the chief executive when there are other capable men around.”

Another former DVC at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Prof. Kenny-Mbang Oyewo, similarly dismisses the insinuation of marginalisation with a wave of hand. The female lecturer, who links the male dominance to their large number in the academia, predicts that the scenario will change in the future, especially with the increasing number of women nowadays in the universities.

On the account of the full professorial cadre from which the stock of VCs is drawn, the African President, Global University Network for Innovation, Prof. Peter Okebukola, agrees with both Soremekun and Togonu-Bickersteth. The GUNI chief notes that only a few women are in the pool from which VCs emerge.

Okebukola, who is also a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, explains, “In Nigeria, there are at least six male professors to every female professor. By simple logic, the chances of a female being a vice-chancellor is one in six if we hold all other variables constant. In the past 10 years, I have been part of interviewing over 80 candidates for the post of vice-chancellors of different universities and I have only encountered two among those in the shortlist. If the females do not apply for whatever reason, you cannot force them or legislate equity in this matter.”

Besides the Nigerian shores, Okebukola, who participated in the just-concluded Association of African Universities conference in Kigali, Rwanda, argues that the dearth of female VCs is not peculiar to Nigeria.

He says, “It is important to situate the Nigerian case within a global context. Data available to the Global University Network for Innovation, where I serve as President for Africa, indicate that there are less than 18 per cent of female vice-chancellors worldwide. Within the Africa region, it is less than 10 per cent. I just returned from a conference of vice-chancellors in Africa held in Kigali and I saw only a sprinkle of female faces.”

Apart from looking at it from the global perspective, the VC of the Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Prof. Ayodeji Olukujo; the UI-Academic Staff Union of Universities Chairman, Prof. Segun Ajiboye, as well as Oyewo, argue that that many Nigerian women have the intellectual capacity to run the universities.

Olukoju, who however says that the female academics face social pressure, perhaps from the domestic front, doubts whether they have the courage to do the hard tackling job that the position entails.

He explains, “Though our patriarchal society is working against them, they have the ability to administer. But whether they have the courage and the hard-tackling spirit that the job entails is another thing altogether. Many women do not really have the time to get involved in the murky politics that is often involved in this matter. Many of them fear that their students can even abduct them.

“There is the political angle to it too because people struggle for such positions. We have a few female activists, whether in terms of student or staff unionism. A situation where we have a few female professors and deans as well as fewer female DVCs limits their chances and narrows the pyramid for them.”

Okebukola shares Olukoju’s view. The former NUC helmsman says the job of a VC demands courage to withstand the harsh “aluta” environment induced by students and workers.

Okebukola adds, “Many women are not kitted with the right dose of courage to cope with such an environment. They buckle under pressure and are too emotional to keep their cool under the stress of office. This is why the special breeds who have ventured into it, such as Grace Alele-Williams, Jadesola Akande and Aize Obayan, have been tremendously successful. Overall, female vice-chancellors have a record of accomplishment of running disciplined and efficient universities with little room for corruption.”

But are women shying away from the position for fear of activism or cultism? To this, Togonu-Bickersteth disagrees, saying that the claim is not true.

“Women have the courage to head such positions. It is not a matter of fear. I was a DVC for four years and when there was vacancy for the position, I reacted to the advert. At least, I have applied to be a VC at OAU,” she argues.

For Ajiboye, the perceived low appointment of women academics as VCs is not because of incompetence. According to him, studies have shown that female academics are as competent as their male counterparts are.

He adds, “The vice-chancellorship race is open to all eligible professors to apply. In a situation where you have 16 applicants for the position and one woman applies, you can see the beginning of the disparity. It may seem apparent that one of the 15 male applicants will eventually emerge. That ratio is too high and the chances of that only one female to emerge are very slim.

“The VC position is not a preserve of male academics. I am sure that very soon, with the increasing number of female academics in Nigerian universities, we will begin to see the emergence of more female vice-chancellors.”