By JOHN ONAH, Abuja –
The staff of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) has commended President Bola Tinubu for the appointment of Professor Patricia Manko Lar which they said had saved the institution from sinking.
In statement jointly by Dr Godwin Okaneme,
Department of Philosophy,
Faculty of Art, Dr. Iheanyichukwu Hilary Ukpabi, Dept of sociology, Comr. Umoru Abdulrasheed Oseni,
Department of Education Management,
Faculty of Education, God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
According to them, “what happened at the University of Abuja on the 6th of February 2025 was nothing short of divine intervention and we thank God for his mercies untold. We are grateful to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for his fatherly role and timely intervention that promptly saved our dear University from sinking into a crisis of horrendous magnitude”.
They stated that, President’s timely intervention was a rare demonstration and show of leadership that came when it mattered most.
“The appointment of Professor Patricia Manko Lar as Acting Vice Chancellor of our University following the dismissal of the controversially elected Vice Chancellor, Professor Aisha Maikudi and the sacking of the Governing Council of the University of Abuja on February 6th 2025 by the Federal Government came as a surprise to many people”.
“Prof Patricia Lar assumed office few days after her appointment and met an institution whose staff were highly demoralized, dejected and traumatized owing to the well known shenanigans of the past administration. The staff were also divided along several lines”.
“Any good leader can achieve a lot within a short space of time and we can say this of Prof Lar. Despite the crisis-ridden institution she met on assumption of office, she has been able to bring calm to the institution. In doing this, she has brought to bear her humane and kind disposition to every particular challenge she has encountered in the discharge of her herculean and onerous task of administering this institution”.
The noted that through her dexterity and painstaking disposition, she has brought peace and calmness to the University.
“Her ability to calmly garner support of the key stakeholders in the University and uniting the entire institution as one entity is an uncommon feat to say the least. A lot of staff can now come to their offices and work in a serene atmosphere without fear of the unknown. Prior to her assumption of office, this was not so as many staff were hunted and haunted on many fronts by the past administration”.
To them, Prof Lar has within the past three months of being in the saddle changed the narrative of tribalism, religious bigotry, crass impunity and endless witch hunting of staff and has consciously given every staff equal opportunity to participate in her administration without any encumbrances.
She has provided every staff a level playing ground to perform their statutory duties in an atmosphere of conviviality, friendliness, geniality, affability, amiability and congeniality.
“The Student Union of this University in the last five years has been almost non-existent. What has been in existence as student union executive have been students who were handpicked by the past administration to do their bidding as the students were not allowed to freely elect their executives neither were they allowed to function freely as a student union”.
“One of the things Prof Lar did as soon as she assumed office was to appoint a young and astute scholar as the Dean of Student Affairs with a clear mandate to reposition the student union of the University. The Dean since his appointment has swung into action with a clear action plan for revitalizing the hitherto moribond student union of the University. A comprehensive timetable has been drawn up and is being implemented with zeal. The Acting Vice Chancellor also directed the immediate overhaul of the deplorable water and toilet conditions in the student hostels”.
“As a kind and caring mother and one who believes in carrying everybody along in the scheme of things, her first mission within the first week she assumed office was to visit all the faculties in the University on a fact-finding mission. During the visit to each of the faculties, she met and interacted with the academic staff of the various faculties and assured them of her open door policy. She equally assured them that she would prioritize issues of their welfare within her short stay in office”.
“Since assuming office three months ago, Prof Lar has maintained a friendly, benevolent and open door policy towards all academic and non-academic staff of the University. In addition to her plethora of daily engagements in the office, she has always created enough time to see staff who come to see her on daily basis. A lot of these staff have been privileged to see her without any unnecessary and bureaucratic bottlenecks”.
“As a humane leader, she has spent a lot of time on daily basis listening to staff who went through oppression, debilitating injustice, human rights abuses, palpable tyranny, unbridled persecution crass brutality, maltreatment and cruel subjugation under the last administration of the University. For each staff that comes with a complaint, she always had a message of hope, belief and optimism for them. For a lot of staff of the University, the Acting Vice Chancellor has become a symbol of hope and comfort”.
“One of the recurring and worrisome complaints from academic and non-academic staff of the University since she assumed office have been the issues of delayed or denied promotion of academic staff, wrong placement and non-conversion of non-academic staff who merited them”.
“Sadly the last administration willingly perpetuated such viciousness and oppression against some staff of the University. It is on record that some academic staff were wilfully and maliciously subjected to perpetual stagnation by the immediate past administration of the University. To resolve this quagmire and logjam, the Acting Vice Chancellor has set up a Committee headed by a senior Professor to look into such distressing cases and complaints by staff and recommend to the University management ways of resolving such issues amicably”.
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Since she assumed office, our amiable Acting Vice Chancellor has always insisted that promotion of staff is a welfare matter and that no staff should be denied his or her promotion if duly and fittingly merited. Within her first three months in office, the University Senate with the kind approval of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University has announced about forty – five promotions of academic staff to the Professorial cadre”.
“Success is rarely a solitary or unitary achievement. It is often a result of collaborative efforts where individuals pool their skills, knowledge and know how and critical perspectives together to achieve a common goal. Prof Lar is a team player who believes strongly in collaborative efforts. As a result, she has assembled a team of tested and trusted academics to work with her and the successes she has recorded so far within the last three months she has been in office points poignantly to this collaborative endeavours”.
For Prof Lar, her humility speaks volumes. Unlike most leaders of today who believe that they know it all, she seeks advice on matters that are not clear to her. She does not shut her door to those who do not agree to her policies and programmes. She welcomes and accepts constructive criticisms as she believes that such criticisms can help towards keeping her on the path of rectitude.
She has demystified and simplified University administration on many fronts. Unlike the past administration that spent so much of the University funds in hiring so many police and DSS operatives as guards to the Vice Chancellor making the University environment look like a war zone each time the Vice Chancellor was around, she has kept a low profile as far as security is concerned hence helping the University to save funds that would have been frittered away needlessly on her security.
The Acting Vice Chancellor in the first three months of her tenure has avoided unnecessary praise singing. She has quietly been working and achieving verifiable results without blowing her trumpet. She clearly understands the task entrusted to her as a rescue mission and believes that unnecessary publicity and praise singing will be a distraction.
Having completed the first three months of her tenure, it is very clear that the next three months will be heavily loaded with a plethora of activities. A lot of promotion issues are still hanging especially for people whose Professorial assessment are yet to be announced after fulfilling all the necessary conditions over six or seven years ago. Such category of academic staff deserve nothing but justice and look up to the Vice Chancellor to do the needful for injustice is a violation of a person’s dignity and it dehumanizes an individual beyond measure.
We are grateful to the federal government for appointing the amiable Prof Patricia Lar as the Acting Vice Chancellor of our University to steady the otherwise sinking ship of our hallowed institution. Despite all the arguments to the contrary, this University was heading towards implosion prior to the intervention of the Federal Government three months ago. We appreciate the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa for giving our indefatigable Acting Vice Chancellor the needed support and encouragement at all times. We offer our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, Dr Olarenwaju Tejuosho for being a father figure and for providing the necessary critical leadership at all times.
“The University does not yet have a full-fledged Governing Council. We appeal to the Federal Government to expedite action on the appointment of a Governing Council for the University to enable the institution run effectively and efficiently without encumbrances. This will no doubt make the remaining tenure of the Acting Vice Chancellor smooth and result-oriented. We appeal to the Federal Government to appoint seasoned and proven technocrats into the Council so that they can add value to the institution”.
“While we commend the Federal Government for its swift and decisive intervention that led to a change of guard in our institution, we wish to state clearly that it is not enough to dissolve the University’s Governing Council and dismiss the controversially elected Vice Chancellor. The Federal Government needs to set up a Visitation Panel to investigate the activities of the past management of the University especially on issues of illegal employment, illegal award of contracts and alleged admission sharp practices”.
The further stated that the issue of illegal employment by the past administration is threatening to tear this institution to shreads noting that, majority of these appointments were given during the twilight of the past administration and those appointments did not follow due process.
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The University did not advertise for those positions and there were no interviews conducted for those employed neither were there inputs from departments and faculties where those employees were sent to. People were just given appointment letters and were asked to resume work”, they added
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