Two Years of Egwunyenga As DELSU VC (OPINION)
By Anthony Arugba
Last week, precisely December 2, 2021, marks the second anniversary of the appointment of Prof. Andy Egwunyenga, as the seventh substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, since its establishment in 1992. Egwunyenga took over from Prof. Victor Peretomode on December 1, 2019, following the expiration of latter’s tenure.
There are divergent opinion on the performance of Egwunyenga, so far. On the good side, his impact on Information Communication Technology (ICT) is commendable in the main campus of the university where free WiFi is provided for both staff and students. He has made conscious efforts at growing the student population for two reasons: to satisfy the burning desire of Deltans for university education and to increase the revenue profile of the institution.
He has also improved staff welfare and redressed cases of stagnation of some staff that arose from punitive measures and concomittant denial of benefits during the years before Egwunyenga’s appointment. To a large extent, a good number of staff of the institution are apparently happy with Prof. Egwunyenga.
However, the management under Prof. Egwunyenga has been weakened by poor conception and execution of policies. A number of his initiatives in the last two years have worsened the fortune of DELSU. Therefore, his aforementioned achievements in the period under review pales into insignificance when compared to his inherent error of judgment, obsession with policy reversal and denunciation of the legacies of his immediate predecessor and somswhat moral deficit, especially in financial matters.
A major area is his readjustment of the academic calendar. Before Egwunyenga’s emergence, DELSU had attained stable academic calendar, which didn’t last more than nine months for a session (one year programme), and less than three and a half years for four years programme (undergraduate regular). Two years before Peretomode bowed out in 2019, DELSU was without doubt the most stable university in Nigeria, such that students from the Universities of Lagos and Ibadan and a host of others sought transfer to DELSU, though the cumbersome criteria for transfer made such quest impossible. Now, DELSU now runs a full year academic calendar for no just cause. For instance, students began the 2020/2021 academic session in January and ended it in November. To all intents and purposes, the readjustment didn’t emanate from a nobler intention but ostensibly to distort Peretomode’s legacy.
For two years running, Egwunyenga has demonize all that Peretomode stood for, instead of building on his predecessor’s achievements in the long-term interest of the institution and the stakeholders. If it’s possible for him to ban his predecessor from entering DELSU he would have done so! Agreed, it’s a welcome idea to criticise or do away with the shortcomings of one’s predecessor in office, but the manner Egwunyenga has sought to negativise whatever Peretomode did is certainly not the enviable stuff the occupant of such an exalted office is made of. It’s indeed ridiculous for an administrator to appropriate only the benefits of an office without caring about the liabilities he inherited. As of today, most of the contracts awarded by Peretomode have been repudiated or frustrated by Egwunyenga for no other reason than blind vendetta.
*One of such contract is DELSU @ 25 publication, which was initiated and financed by TONDEK Agency with a life span of five years. However, shortly after Egwunyenga took over, he willfully breached the terms of the MoU, and when his opinion was sought on the issue, he boasted that he owed nobody an apology and that whatever agreement reached by his predecessor, died with the man that initiated the agreement, irrespective of the fact that the agreement was reached between the Agency and the University. As of this day, Egwunyenga has blatantly refused to acknowledge every effort Tondek has made to reconcile the account with the university. It is even strange that Egwunyenga who openly described the anniversary magazine as “useless and outdated”, connived with the Bursar, Mr. Justice Egbare, to secretly collect the sum of N4, 000 each for the magazine from new students, those doing clearance after graduation, as well as those applying for certificates since 2019. What even makes the whole action somewhat fraudulent is that apart from his sheer refusal to remit Tondek’s share of the proceeds, a number of new students who paid for the magazine, particularly in Oleh Campus of the university, were never issued the magazine till date. Therefore, what he has done could be likened to obtaining under false pretense. Does such action by Egwunyenga amount to honesty or fraud? Your guess is as good as mine!
As of today, the appointment of Egwunyenga has not benefited students in all ramification. The students are angry over the elongation of the academic calendar which makes them to spend longer years in the university, unlike the days of Peretomode. If an opinion poll is conducted among students on the two years of Egwunyenga’s tenure, 90 per cent will thumb him down for obvious reasons.
Another area he has angered students is his insensitive increment of school fees in the last academic session. Prior to his emergence in 2019, the school fees paid in DELSU was relatively affordable, but he nearly doubled the amount in 2020, which generated an outcry by the students’ community in Delta State. Many parents and their children are groaning under the burden of outrageous school fees, which has brought untold hardship to the students and their parents and sppnsors. The result is that many new students had to forfeit their admission, while a number of stale students dropped out of school.
Again, DELSU is perhaps the only institution in Nigeria that imposed COVID-19 levy on students. He initially made it N5, 000 but after an outcry by the students, the Governor of Delta State and visitor to the university, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa directed that the money be slashed by N1,000. But even with the payment of N4, 000 by over 20,000 students, there was and still no substantial arrangement on ground to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Egwunyenga merely hurriedly assembled some ramshackle washhand basins which are broken and did not function beyond a week. As of today, there’s neither running water nor hand sanitizers on top of the wash hand basins kept at strategic points where they look like relics of an abandoned leprosarium. Despite the obvious mismanagement of the COVID-19 funds, students, including those that have graduated are still being compelled to pay the N4,000.
From all indications, most of the programmes and policies introduced by Egwunyenga are merely tailored to generate more money for the institution, which of course will benefit him financially without caring about the welfare of the students. Imagine the financial burden imposed on the students without commensurate improvement in the state of infrastructure? For instance, the roofs of the hostels at Oleh Campus have been leaking since late 2019, yet no attempt has been made to fix the problem. In addition, the walkway built by Peretomode in Site three of the university, which was reportedly blown off by whirlwind during the rainy season, is yet to be fixed. Students now walk over one kilometre under the scorching sun from the site three Main Gate to their lecture halls.
However, a number of persons are not surprised by the limited vision shown by Egwunyenga in the running of the institution because of his less enviable background. He did not hold a very senior management position such as a Dean or Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the institution prior to his appointment. Clearly, he wasn’t prepared for this position. He got it on a platter of ethnic patronage. If he wasn’t from the same Delta North senatorial district with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, he would probably have remained a mere lecturer! The only recognisable position he held previously was Chairman, ASUU DELSU Chapter, a position he used in terrifying former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Uvietobore Igun.
As such, the less enviable performance of Egwun ridicules the recourse by the appointing authority to extraneous factors such as ethnic origin and political leaning in the selection of a vice-chancellor. Some persons may argue that he is eminently qualified having served as Rector of Delta State Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku. Granted he was rector for four years, but one of the questions is what was the outcome of his tenure? What impact did he make? Any Deltan or education watcher that is familiar with his tenure will tell you that he left Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic worse than he met it, particularly the financial quagmire that his tenure put the institution into. What about the alleged huge debt he left for the institution, coupled with the over invoicing of contracts he awarded during his tenure. It took the acumen of Egwunyenga’s immediate successor, Dr. Edna Mogekwu, to rescue that polytechnic from the messy stewardship of Egwunyenga.
As such, the Egwunyenga poor example at DELSU makes it imperatives for the federal and state government to show greater circumspection in the choice of vice-chancellors. Ethnicising the appointment of Vice Chancellors should be disregarded as it gives room for the emergence of mediocre leadership. Since the return of civilian rule, the President often gives the highest consideration to candidates of the host states in appointing Vice Chancellors of federal universities while governors routinely favour those from their ethnic groups or senatorial districts for the position of Vice-Chancellor of state-owned universities. In view of this, whoever will appoint the next DELSU VC in 2024 after the tenure of Egwunyenga should take criteria such as academic standing, administrative experience, probity and financial discipline, quality scholarly publications, and general exposure into consideration to advance the fortune of DELSU outside the confines of primordial inclinations.
