By Ernest Chinwo
The University of Port Harcourt chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the federal government of being behind the ongoing secret employment of academic and non-academic staff in the university.
It also accused the federal government of allegedly compounding the problems facing the university by its failure to inaugurate the governing council of the university despite inaugurating same in 13 other federal universities in the country.
Chairman of the University of Port Harcourt chapter of ASUU, Dr. Austen Sado, while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, said a few individuals within the university system had hijacked the employment exercise in the university, jettisoning transparency and equity in the guise that the government had directed against advertising the process.
Sado noted that if the illegality was allowed to continue, it would further deepen the crisis currently rocking the university.
He said: “We are disappointed that the government inaugurated a governing council of 13 universities but completely left out the constitution of a governing council for the University of Port Harcourt.
“By that neglect or omission, the government has given the impression that it is in support of the violation of due process in the university system.
“If the government truly intends to solve the myriad of problems in the University of Port Harcourt and put the institution in the pedestal of excellence in teaching and research, then the governing council is an indispensable part of that equation.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute a governing council for the University of Port Harcourt.”
Sado stated further that the ASUU, being a critical stakeholder in the institution, could not ignore acts capable of truncating the quality of teaching and research in the university.
He said: “Apparently, the soliciting for applications is a smoke screen and those applications are destined to end up in the trash bin.
“ASUU UNIPORT as a critical stakeholder in the university will not turn a blind eye to this manifest violation that is capable of affecting the quality of teaching, researching and other administrative duties in the university.
“We therefore call on the president to intervene in order to bring a sense of sanity into this process.”
