{"id":167369,"date":"2025-06-24T20:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria"},"modified":"2025-06-24T20:19:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:19:00","slug":"unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria","title":{"rendered":"UNICAL VC contender threatens legal action over alleged unfair selection criteria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Professor Joseph Duke, a contender for the position of Vice Chancellors in the University of Calabar (UNICAL), has threatened legal action if the institution fails to review what he described as a discriminatory requirement<\/p>\n<p>Duke is kicking against the criterion mandating 10 years post-professorial experience for aspirants seeking to succeed the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Professor Florence Obi.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter dated June 17, 2025, addressed to the University\u2019s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council with reference: Unical\/VC\/2025\/001, Duke demanded that the university places another advertisement in reputable newspapers, indicating equitable criteria.<\/p>\n<p>The letter was also copied to the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Minister of Education, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, decrying the alleged violation of statutory provisions.<\/p>\n<p>He alleged that the intention of the university\u2019s management was to scheme him and other contenders out in favour of their adopted candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking through his lawyer, Barrister Ubong Akpan, Duke called for withdrawal of earlier advertisement for the position of Vice Chancellor which set 10 years criterion as benchmark.<\/p>\n<p>Duke argued that withdrawing the advertisement will avoid possible discrimination under Section 19, Section 42(1), and Section 14(3).<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the violations undermine the integrity of Nigeria\u2019s higher education governance and may set dangerous precedents for other federal universities if left unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>He disclosed that the university\u2019s historical benchmark was 5-9 years of professorial experience, with national norms of 5-8 years among first generation universities in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 10-year criterion, adopted without a Senate and Council approved statute under Section 10 of the Act or a proper resolution under first schedule, paragraph 4(2)(a)(i), exceeds the Council\u2019s authority, as evidenced by member dissent,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>The professor further accused the university of relying on unspecified federal directives which infringe on university autonomy as spelt out under section 2(a) of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 2003.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimilarly, I demand that the university management ensure criteria are applied equitably, avoiding discrimination under Section 19, Section 42(1), and Section 14(3).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublish a new advertisement in a reputable newspaper, complying with first schedule, paragraph 4 of the 1999 constitution, and NUC guidelines,\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\">Nigeria<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Professor Joseph Duke, a contender for the position of Vice Chancellors in the University of Calabar (UNICAL), has threatened legal action if the institution fails to review what he described as a discriminatory requirement Duke is kicking against the criterion mandating 10 years post-professorial experience for aspirants seeking to succeed the outgoing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":167368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1570,2140,254],"class_list":["post-167369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UNICAL VC contender threatens legal action over alleged unfair selection criteria - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNICAL VC contender threatens legal action over alleged unfair selection criteria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Professor Joseph Duke, a contender for the position of Vice Chancellors in the University of Calabar (UNICAL), has threatened legal action if the institution fails to review what he described as a discriminatory requirement Duke is kicking against the criterion mandating 10 years post-professorial experience for aspirants seeking to succeed the outgoing [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-24T19:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UNICAL VC contender threatens legal action over alleged unfair selection criteria\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-24T19:19:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\"},\"wordCount\":368,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/MohamadReza1750783773.802962.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/unical-vc-contender-threatens-legal-action-over-alleged-unfair-selection-criteria\",\"name\":\"UNICAL VC contender threatens legal action over alleged unfair selection criteria - 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