Says universities must focus on teaching and research, not partisan electoral assignments

A former Vice Chancellor of Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI), Ebonyi State, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, has called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to prohibit its members from taking part in election-related duties for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Prof. Nwajiuba made the appeal on Tuesday while delivering a valedictory lecture at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), in honour of the institution’s outgoing Vice Chancellor, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe.

In a strongly worded address, the former VC argued that Nigerian universities, as universal institutions devoted to teaching, research and knowledge production, should not be drawn into what he described as partisan electoral engagements outside their statutory mandate.

“Save Nigerian universities from participating in electoral duties. We don’t have any business in that. We don’t belong to that constituency. ASUU should stop us from election duties,” Nwajiuba declared.

His remarks reignite longstanding debates over the involvement of university lecturers as ad hoc staff during elections. Academics are routinely deployed as presiding officers, collation officers and returning officers in national and state polls — a practice critics say disrupts academic calendars, delays lectures and examinations, and exposes scholars to political pressures.

Nwajiuba maintained that the integrity and focus of the university system must be protected, insisting that higher institutions should remain insulated from partisan processes and concentrate strictly on their core mission of advancing scholarship and national development.

His call is likely to spark fresh discussions within ASUU and the broader education sector on whether academics should continue to play frontline roles in Nigeria’s electoral process.