Crisis is currently brewing at the Federal College of Education (FCE) Technical, Lagos, over the continued stay of the provost, Wahab Azeez.
   
While Azeez is accusing some union members in the institution of alleged threat to his life, the workers, under the aegis of ‘concerned staff,’ insisted that the tenure of the provost had ended and could no longer continue.
   
Azeez, in an interview with journalists, accused officials of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN) in the institution of being behind the fracas.
   
He accused the Chairman, Augustine Nwachukwu, and the Secretary, Kazeem Qadri, of consistently leading daily protests against his leadership of the college for more than four weeks over a tenure system already clarified by the Federal Government.
   
Azeez claimed that apart from denying him entry into his office since May 27, the protesters also stormed his official residence on campus last Wednesday, threatening to eject him within seven days.
   
However, while denying the claim, the protesting workers insisted that their activities had been within the laid-down procedures for agitation and protests against the ‘questionable’ conduct of the provost. Nwachukwu said that the union was against the provost’s continued stay in office.    
   
He said: “Before April this year, which was meant to be towards the end of the provost’s tenure, we agreed to endure his sole administrator style of leadership, not until the ministry directed that he should continue in office until 2027.”
 
Azeez was appointed the provost of the college in May 2019 for a four-year term, and reappointed for another four years in January 2023, and resumed on May 26, 2023.
   
However, on June12, 2023, an amended Federal Colleges of Education Act, 2023, which recommended a five-year single term for management officers in education colleges nationwide, came into effect.
   
The workers are saying the Provost should only enjoy one year of his new term to make five years in office. Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has sent a delegation to the college to assess the situation, but not much has happened.
   
It was gathered that the minister will meet with the warring sides later this week, as the issue has crippled both academic and non-academic activities on campus.