No fewer than 24 Professors of the Michael Okpara University of
Agriculture, Umudike have been served with demotion letters,
NewTelegraph reports.
Management conveyed the University Governing Council’s decision to
the affected Professors through a letter that described the action as
‘proper placement’.
The university’s spokesperson, Adamma Nwachukwu, confirmed the
development, stating that following petitions to the Minister of
Education by some aggrieved persons, the university embarked on staff
audit.
“Following the outcome of the process, Council directed that affected persons should revert to their proper placement,” he said.
She, however, declined to offer other details of the action, saying “the
university is not exactly interested in blowing this matter out of
proportion. It is an internal procedure and was not targeted at demoting
or promoting anybody, but rather at ensuring proper placement of all
affected staff and not just Professors.”
She advised our correspondent to wait till month-end when the university will publish its bulletin to get the said details.
Investigations by our correspondent, however, suggest that the
shock demotion may be the consequence of some flawed decisions and chain
of events that started around 2015 under the former Vice Chancellor,
Prof. Hilary Edeoga.
Multiple university sources who craved anonymity told New Telegraph
that the university, under Prof. Edeoga, may have promoted a select
number of lecturers to professorial level against the recommendations of
their assessors.
Not a few persons at the time kicked against the alleged violation
of due process and lowering of standards in the university, which
consequently provoked several petitions by staff and stakeholders, to
the immediate past Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.
And following the staff audit occasioned by the recommendation of
the Committee on Petitions received by the Honourable Minister of
Education in respect of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture and in
response to appeals made by some staff on proper placement, the
Governing Council of the University, at its 21st Emergency Meeting held
on Monday, the 13th to Thursday, 16th of May, 2019, considered the cases
of the affected Professors and approved their demotion.
While 18 of the Professors were demoted to Associate Professors, six others were demoted to Senior Lecturers.
According to documents available to New Telegraph, Alphonsus Odo
Ovute of the Department of Science Education; Melody Ndidi Modebelu of
the Department of Educational Management; Gideon Ahamefula Emerole of
the Department of Business Administration; Ogwo Patrick Agwu of the
Department of Environmental Management and Technology; Aso Vincent Ele
of the Department of Mathematics and Joy Chinwe Obunadike of the
Department of Adult and Continuing Education are among the Professors
demoted to Senior Lecturers.
The demotion of the Professors were to take effect at varying dates
ranging from 2015 through 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 as the case may be.
Based on the findings of the investigating panel, further demands
were also made by the university authorities on some of the affected
lecturers so as to clear out all grey areas.
For Prof. Odo Ovute, he was further required to provide his First
School Leaving and NYSC certificates, as well as explain fully, his
career activities between the year 2010 and 2012 with evidence.
Georgina Obinna Ugwuanyi of the Department of Business
Administration, who was demoted to Associate Professor, was mandated to
provide her 1982 and 1983 West African School Certificate; 1996 PGD
certificate and 2001 BSc Certificate for sighting.
And Kayode Feyisetan Adekunle of the Department of Chemical
Engineering, also demoted to Associate Professor, was directed to show
evidence of his research position in Sweden and provide his birth
certificate, West African School certificate and regularization letter
for sighting.
The National Vice Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), Prof. Victor Osodeke, also a lecturer at the university, said he
didn’t have all the details of the audit, but noted that ASUU had
earlier in 2015, condemned incidents of wrong placement of staff in the
university.
He said: “In 2015, ASUU raised the issue of people who were not
qualified being promoted and given appointments as professors. That is
the origin of all these. We protested it because it will be wrong for
somebody who is not qualified for a position to be appointed to it.
“In the academic space, there are criteria for being appointed
or promoted. When you put a neophyte; somebody who retired from a
company and within a space of about two years is appointed a professor;
that is wrong. We commend the action as long as the process is fair and
transparent. Apparently, it is a cleansing process that is intended to
sanitize the system. And the union will address the press at the
appropriate time, when we get full details of the action.”
Another official of the university who is also the Provost of Abia
State College of Education (Technical), Dr. Philip Nto, commended the
Governing Council and the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof.
Francis Otunta for their resolve to set the records right.
Nto said: “It all started in 2014/2015 when the standards were
lowered. Before the then Vice Chancellor took over, MOUAU was among the
first 20 universities in Nigeria. But within the period, the university
was ranked 104 out of 107. Some of us were not happy about that and we
protested it. There is no way somebody will be employed in a university
and within the space of two or three years will be promoted and
appointed a professor. It is an aberration.
“Several interested parties wrote petitions to the Minister of
Education and based on that, a fact-finding committee was set up and on
their recommendations, the minister issued a whitepaper directing that
all the appointments and promotions should be reviewed, so the Chairman
of Council and the Vice Chancellor only implemented the recommendation
of the whitepaper.
“The exercise affected everyone appointed or promoted within
the period under review. Some lecturers, who were due for professorship
that did not get it, were also properly placed. So I believe it is not a
case of witch-hunt; the system had to be sanitized.”
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