RSUST Resumes Full Academic Activities …As ASUU Strike Fizzles Out

About one month after normal resumption of the 2012/2013 academic session in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, full academic activities have finally taken off, with virtually all the lecturers taking their turns to teach the students.

This is in spite of  claims by the near-extinct leadership of the institution’s chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), that the six-month old strike embarked upon by the union was still on.

The Tide investigation reveals that full academic work has commenced in all departments and faculties of the university, with about 90 per cent of the lecturers   now actively involved in teaching their assigned courses without any intimidation or harassment from the union officials.

A visit to most of the lecture halls revealed that a great number of the lecturers were fully discharging their duties and responsibilities to both the students and the institution, as most lecture halls were packed with students while the lecturers were seen teaching in a convivial atmosphere.

Some of the lecturers, who spoke with The Tide on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that about 90 per cent of the lecturers, who are also ASUU members, have shunned the alleged strike, and resumed normal academic activities.

They disclosed that although some of their colleagues have resigned their appointments as employees of the institution following the face-off with management and the state government over the re-appointment of Prof Barineme Fakae as Vice Chancellor, they had decided to resume normal work because they could not continue with the unjustifiable strike.

The lecturers claimed that having been owed salaries for five months, they resolved to resume and teach the students, so they could be paid their salaries following government’s implementation of the no-work, no-pay policy.

One of the lecturers claimed that the newly employed lecturers were not engaged to replace any of the hardened ASUU leaders’ loyalists, but were recruited to bridge the yawning gap in the teaching portfolio of the university.

“Those who were employed fell within the lower cadre. They were not deployed to replace any staff who had resigned as a result of the ASUU strike. In fact, no lecturer was sacked. Their salaries were only withheld. Those employed were engaged to boost the teaching capacity of the academic staff”, he said.

A cross section of the students, who spoke with The Tide in separate interviews, acknowledged that normal academic activities had commenced since about a month ago.

A 200-level Engineering student, Amos Ibe, told The Tide that he has been attending lectures regularly, adding that the lecturers were currently teaching, including the newly recruited ones.

Another student in the Faculty of Technical and Science Education, Ima Georgenia, noted that she and all her colleagues were happy to be back to the new session, with full academic activities.

She expressed optimism that things would get better this academic session, but regretted that only a few of the results of last semester’s examinations had so far been made public.

However, a deflected ASUU Chairman in RSUST, Dr Felix Igwe, claimed that the strike was still on, as according to him, “no effort has been made by the government, governing council or university management to address the anomaly that led to the strike.”

He claimed that members of the union, who were on strike, were still being harassed, intimidated, attacked  and embarrassed in and outside the campus, alleging that some of the lecturers, who were on strike had been sacked by the authorities.

Fielding questions on the resumption of normal academic activities, the institution’s  Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Mr Desmond Wosu, dismissed insinuations that any lecturer was being harassed or owed salaries for working.

Wosu also acknowledged that normal academic activities had since commenced after resumption for the 2012/2013 academic session last month.

He expressed satisfaction with the response of lecturers to their duties and responsibilities, arguing that if the lecturers were on strike, normal academic activities would not have been going on within the campus, clarifying that there was never any strike by academic staff in the university as claimed by ASUU.

The public relations officer corroborated the lecturers’ assertion that about 90 per cent of the lecturers were presently discharging their official duties to the school as they had continued to teach students without let or hindrance.

Wosu recalled that the university’s recent recruitment of lecturers was designed to boost the academic  manpower capacity of the institution, saying that the rationale for the exercise was to replace those who had either retired or died, and therefore, were no longer on the service of the institution.

“We advertised for vacancies like any other university. People applied, and they were interviewed. Those who were successful were employed. Other universities are employing, so we have to also employ to bridge existing gap,” he said.

Eunice Choko-Kayode

R-L: Vice President Namadi Sambo, Rivers State Deputy Governor, Engr Tele Ikuru, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and Deputy Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Musa Ibeto, at the meeting on a Draft for Mass Transit Framework in Abuja, yesterday.