Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma Branch, has denounced the lingering crises in the university and blamed government for its failure to genuinely reposition the university.
The University’s chapter of ASUU, in a statement signed by its Chairperson and Assistant Secretary, Dr. Cyril Onogbosele and Dr. William Odion, respectively insisted that the crises in the university were aggravated by the undue replacement of the university’s Governing Council with the Special Intervention Team (SIT) in May 2021 by the Visitor to the University, Governor Godwin Obaseki, despite its opposition by well-meaning primary stakeholders of the university.
The Union reiterated that SIT’s tenure was characterized by breach of the university’s autonomy, arbitrariness, usurpation of the powers/functions of the Senate and principal officers of the university, intimidation and victimization of staff and students, undue retirement/termination of the appointments of some staff, administrative lapses, impunities and the presentation of false reports on the university and its staff to Edo State Government.
The Union enumerated the unresolved problems bedeviling the university to include erosion of the University’s autonomy; lack of funding of the university/stoppage or reduction of subvention to the University by Edo State Government; defective administrative structure in the university caused by lack of substantive Principal Officers (Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Bursar, Librarian and Provost) in the university for the past three years; arbitral removal/replacement of elected Deans of faculties; the problem of non-payment of salaries/allowances of many staff up to thirty (30) months; and non-implementation of the award of 25%/35% wage award to academic staff in public universities in Nigeria by government.
Other problems listed include: stoppage of third-party deductions (ASUU dues, staff welfare savings, etc.) and non-remittance of deducted ASUU dues (September 2020 – November 2021) by the University Administration; delayed staff appraisal and promotion exercise and reintroduction of notional promotion of staff (promotion without financial benefits) which was stopped a long time ago during the tenure of the Governing Council chaired by Prof. Eugene Okpere.
The Union also highlighted selective issuance of promotion letters to staff; undue retirement/termination of the appointments of staff; fraudulent implementation of Edo Health Insurance Scheme (EDOHIS) in the university; coercion of staff by the University Administration to pay fees for access to their workplace in the university; running of some academic programmes, particularly in the College of Medicine in violation of National Universities Commission’s (NUC’s) guidelines, and undue amendment of the University’s Regulations Governing the Service of Staff by the SIT/University Administration as other unsalutory measures that have adversely affected the fortunes of AAUE.
To place the University on the path of industrial harmony, peace, academic excellence and stability, the Union insisted that the Visitor to the University, Mr. Godwin Obaseki must jettison the policy of self-sustenance which has cast blight on the university, and resolve the lingering crises in AAUE.
The Union implored the Governor to see the need to urgently appoint substantive principal officers for the University to put an end to the administrative lapses and aberrations being experienced by the university.
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