A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and student unions have drummed support for the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Petroleum Training Institute Nigeria (PTI), Effurun, Delta State, Dr. Henry Adebowale Adimula.
Leader of the coalition and President of the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU), Chinonso Obasi, at a media conference in Abuja commended the choice of Adimula as the 8th CEO of the institution.
Other members of the coalition include, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) African Students Education Support Initiative (ASESI) and Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG).
Obasi said the appointment of Adimula is apt and that he was the right candidate for the job and that opposition to his appointment should be dismissed.
“We are glad that the Governing Council of PTI appointed a seasoned and well-rooted staffer of the institute. One of the ways of fostering infrastructural and intellectual growth in any academia is to prioritise the appointment of qualified staff of the same institution while choosing its head.
“Dr Adimula’s appointment represents that demand. A man with such growth and pedigree within the institute has over time known the challenges confronting the institute and equally has ample solutions. This compelled our advocacy for all-inclusive support and progressive partnership to enable his success as the Chief Executive,” Obasi said.
He described as misguided and unfortunate, the call in some quarters for the appointment of the PTI boss to be reversed because of his state of origin.
He said it was a wrong assertion that every chief executive of federal institutions must be appointed from the same state as the institution.
“The VC, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Prof. Nnenna Oti is from Ebonyi; that of the University of Abuja, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah is from Kwara and that of University of Nigeria Nsukka, Prof. Charles Igwe is from Anambra.
“That notwithstanding, the VC of Alex Ekwueme University Ebonyi, Prof. Sunday Elom is from Ebonyi, the VC, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh is from Delta, but that does not make it a law; but a coincidence.
“We, therefore, caution those paid to heighten tension in the peaceful institute to desist from the biased demands on a baseless claim that he is not from Urhobo, Delta State.
“We, therefore, unequivocally and unapologetically pass a vote of confidence on Dr Henry Adimula’s appointment as the 8th Chief Executive Officer of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Nigeria,” he said.
Dr Adimula joined the services of the PTI in 1992 as a lecturer and rose through the ranks to the zenith of his career.
He was the Vice-Principal of the institute from December 4, 2019 before he was made the institute’s Acting Principal and Chief Executive, from July 2020.