In an effort to promote lasting peace and engender unity in the university, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Stephen Okodudu, has inaugurated two committees to resolve grievances among members within the university community.
The committees inaugurated were Committee on Resolution of Subsisting Legal Issues between the University and Other Parties which is headed by Professor Anele Ihekwaba, and Committee on Staff and Students’ Grievances chaired by Professor Kanu Nkangineme.
Inaugurating the committees at the council’s chambers in Choba over the weekend ,the Acting Vice Chancellor said the committees have one month to submit their reports, saying that the numerous court cases and disaffection among staff and students had continued to widen the gap of communality in the academic environment which must be bridged without further delay.
He advised the respective Committees not to use this opportunity for dialogue to open new contentious issues or engage in blame game.
“To everything there is a time and season. For me, who is right or wrong is immaterial at this stage. What is right is what matters now. Just do justice to all by addressing the issues and resolve them on the basis of the fine principles that are encapsulated in the Statute and other regulations governing such issues in the University and by convention established by the founding fathers of this University,” he stated.
Okodudu, however, enjoined all stakeholders to eschew divisive tendencies to return the university to the path of inclusiveness to promote team work with brotherly love to move the institution to more enviable academic height.In their separate speeches, the Chairman of the Committee on Resolution of Subsisting Legal Issues between the University and Other Parties, Professor Ihekwaba, and a member of the Staff and Students’ Grievances, Professor e Chairman, Professor Kanu Nkangineme, commended the Acting Vice Chancellor for their appointments into the committees and promised to carry out the task to the best of their abilities.Osaretin Ejele, who spoke on behalf of the Chairman, Professor Kanu Nkangineme, commended the Acting Vice Chancellor for their appointments into the committees and promised to carry out the task to the best of their abilities.