The Joint Council and Senate Selection Board of the University of Abuja are set to pick a new Vice Chancellor for the institution from a list of 40 Professors.
The Federal Government has also given the Governing Council of the university up till December 31 to appoint a substantive VC.
A member of the Board who spoke to NewsNGR on condition of anonymity, said 40 candidates have submitted applications for the position of VC from within and outside the university.
He said the process is expected to conclude this week as the Federal Government has given the university a deadline of December 31, 2024.
The search for a substantive VC for the institution followed the 87th Extra Ordinary Meeting of the university’s Senate held on 9th October 2024 at the main campus of the university, more than two months after the former VC, Prof. Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah, left the post.
However, the process has not gone smoothly due to deep divisions within the university over the candidate to be selected as substantive VC.
A source in the university senate said the division within the university has to do with two of the leading candidates who incidentally come from the same state of Katsina.
The two candidates are Prof. Aisha Maikudi, a professor of International Law and Acting VC, and Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, a professor of Geography.
Prof. Mashi recently returned to the university after serving two four-year terms as a Member of the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
A meeting of the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board that was held on Monday was inconclusive after the two members representing the Senate of the university walked out of the meeting allegedly in protest.
A source said the two members, Prof. Kasim Waziri and Prof. Rosemary Udeozor, walked out of the meeting because they thought the process would not favour their candidate believed to be Prof Mashi.
Since Prof Maikudi was appointed Acting VC, there have been sponsored allegations against her in the media.
Responding to one of those reports, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council, Air Vice Marshal Saddiq Isma’ila Kaita (rtd.), denied authorship of an alleged document accusing the Acting VC of misconduct.
Kaita reiterated the governing council’s commitment to a fair, transparent, and merit-based selection process for the Vice-Chancellor position.
Spokesperson of the university, Dr Habib Yakoob, could not be reached for comments at the time of filing this report.