BOOM: Concerned Citizens Raise The Alarm Over "59 yrs" Strange Age Criteria for Provost of COE Hong

Daily Rendezvous

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, among other offices, as some stakeholders observed that there is a strange alteration in the age requirement as advertised, with the adverts requiring 59 years istead of 55 years for Provost contrary to the provision of the 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 from 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 but the adverts sets the age for the provost at "59" which is a bump in the age bracket by five years for reasons best known to the advertiser.

In this age and time, where there is a global clamour for the younger generation to take the reins of leadership, it is strange to see age criteria being altered to eliminate eligible younger persons from holding leadership positions in an higher institutions of learning.

With the recent campaigns such as "Not-Too-Young-To-Run," it is expected that institutions of learning would be at the front row of campaigns by amending their laws to see that younger generation of Nigerians aspire to the post of provost at the age of forty (40) instead of a malicious alterations to set the age at 59.

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, who seeks to bring in unprecedented development to the state and the governor is doing this by placing young persons at the driving seat of leadership and the spirit of this adverts works contrary to the mindset of forward thinking of Fresh Air government and that of the new Adamawa state.

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 young, visionary and dynamic academicians the opportunity for leadership.

In my opinion, it should be reviewed from 55 years down to 40 years.

Daily Rendezvous:

(Drop your comments and let's know what you think on this issue.)