Suspended Prof. Nnamdi Nweze of the Economics Department, ABSU
The Wikipedia defines a lecturer as “an academic rank in many universities that means an expert hired to teach full-time or part-time”.
In this piece, our emphasis in the foregoing definition of who a lecturer is, lies with the phrase, “hired to teach”. What that means is that anybody teaching in the university or tertiary institution, such as the Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu, was hired or employed by the university.
Therefore, flowing from the above, and for the sake of emphasis, Prof. Nnamdi Nwaeze is an employee of the university, teaching Economics in the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences.
It is important and instructive to also emphasize here that the university is wholly owned and funded by the Abia State Government, with Dr Alex Chioma Otti as the Governor and University Visitor. By extension, therefore, Prof. Nwaeze is an employee of the State Government, simplicita.
The same Wikipedia defines the University Visitor as “an official overseer or adjudicator with the legal authority to intervene in the internal affairs, inspect, or settle disputes within an autonomous academic institution”. Suffice it to add that in public universities, the role is usually assigned to a high-ranking public office holder, such as a State Governor or the Head of State.
So, the instant case of the suspension of Prof. Nwaeze by the ABSU Management, over his role in the production and circulation of a viral video, openly attacking the University Visitor, buttresses the essence of the public service rules, which define the official boundary and public conduct of the personnel of any government-owned organisation or institution.
The Fifth Schedule (Part 1) of the 1999 Constitution as enunciated by the Code of Conduct Bureau deals specifically and sufficiently with the do’s and don’ts that apply to public officers.
The Schedule copiously speaks about how to officially deal with misconduct that borders on open attacks against the government of the day. It prescribes administrative sanctions, including “queries, suspension, or outright dismissal”, against any public officer that breached its provision.
It states categorically that a public officer that “attacks and openly criticizes the government of the day” commits “an administrative and disciplinary offence”.
“While ordinary citizens have a constitutional right to free speech, public servants and career officers are bound by strict codes of conduct that restrict political neutrality and public dissent,” the schedule further clarifies.
Still under the Public Service Rules, a public officer that signed an oath of allegiance remains bound by the service regulations.
“These rules explicitly forbid public officers from engaging in partisan politics, leaking official government secrets, or making public statements that undermine or attack government policies and the constituted authorities,” the Schedule further states.
This section of the Code of Conduct also talks about the expected loyalty from a public officer. It clearly states as follows: “Public employment requires an implicit duty of loyalty to the administration executing state functions, meaning (that) public criticism must typically be channeled through internal administrative mechanisms rather than public attacks.”
This is the section that nailed Prof. Nwaeze’s careless vituperation in the online video, where he callously, rudely and publicly criticized the University Visitor.
The content of the video was not only offensive and resentful to good conscience but also capable of inciting public dissent and hatred against the government and the university management considered it “inimical to the interests of the University and uncomplimentary to the Visitor of the University”.
The Schedule went further to recommend some disciplinary actions against any breach of its provisions. Hear what the recommendations say: “If a public officer attacks the government, he faces administrative queries, suspension, or outright dismissal for gross misconduct or conduct unbecoming of a public officer.”
These rules were not fabricated by Prof. Nwaeze’s employer – the Abia State University, Uturu, its Management or the University Visitor. Neither were they enacted with Prof. Nwaeze in mind! The Management of the university merely invoked the relevant sections of the statute book on public service that clearly deal with an action that brazenly and recklessly attacked the integrity and personality of the University Visitor.
It was the legendary late Prof. Chinua Achebe that wrote in his classical novel, Things Fall Apart, that “a man that fetched a ant-infested wood invites lizards to a feast”.
Prof. Nwaeze, in the most opprobrious, ill-conceived and condemnable manner, stirred up the hornet’s nest with his video. In our common parlance, he has bitten the finger that feeds him. And, so, having daringly crossed the redline, should be prepared to take the heat.
It is appropriate and instructive to state at this juncture that the current industrial dispute declared by the university’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was intended to draw the State Government’s attention to the welfare needs of its members, which is the tradition.
Hence, one is left to wonder what special and personal interest Prof. Nwaeze has and tries to pursue through his ill-motivated video, if not to cause public disaffection against the government of the day, in alignment with the unpatriotic mission of his paymasters.
It is no longer in the realm of speculation that Prof. Nwaeze was hired to act a script prepared by the state Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, which is primarily an attempt to discredit Gov. Otti’s administration, ahead of the 2027 Governorship Election.
This explains why the party was quick to address the media, faulting the suspension slammed on a man in its payroll, having also seen no offence or official misconduct in the content of the controversial online video. Unfortunately, the attempt to demonise Gov. Otti’s administration using the video has hit the brick wall, and Prof. Nwaeze inadvertently shot himself in the foot, by making himself a scapegoat.
To save his face, it may be imperative to advice that he resigns his appointment as quickly as he could, float a civil society organisation to pursue his activism.
Indeed, that is the platform he needs, not the university environment, to properly and meaningfully channel his energy and resources to drive an advocacy against a system that has in three years created more Nigerians, totalling approximately 133 million to 139 million, that live in poverty. Prof. Nwaeze is the kind of “bold and courageous” activist that Nigeria, not God’s Own State, needs at such interesting times as these.
It is sheer foolhardy for Prof. Nwaeze, or any other person for that matter, who works and earns a living in a system, to throw caution to the wind by launching ceaseless attacks on the same system. Prof. became a saboteur – an enemy within – to say the least. And no organization can tolerate such a radical and unruly conduct without a definite and stern reprimand.
As the public awaits the outcome of the investigation by the Administrative Panel already constituted by the ABSU Management, it is expected that Prof. Nwaeze’s unbecoming act of gross indiscipline and sheer impudence should be thoroughly met with due and appropriate sanction(s) as explicitly outlined in the extant Schedule of the Code of Conduct for public officers.
This will help to serve as a deterrent against future rascality, particularly by those who ought to know and act better, I so submit.
- * Eagle Okoro, a Public Affairs analyst, writes from Umuahia.
