Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Port Harcourt branch have berated the Federal Government over its inability to reconstitute the governing council of the institution since the dissolution of the last council in May, 2020, saying that such act was an outright wilful breach of the Universities Miscellaneous Provision Act of 2003.
To this end, the ASUU is urging the Federal Government to reconstitute the governing council of the institution so as to fast-track the appointment of a substantive vice chancellor and registrar, whose tenures of office wold terminate in less than two months as well as protect and save the institution from internal and external intrusions.
The Chairman of ASUU in the University of Port Harcourt, Dr Austen Sado said this during a press briefing by the union at its secretariat in Port Harcourt, Thursday.
Sado said the Federal Government was politicising the issue of the reconstitution of the governing council, saying that the non-constitution of a governing council was negatively affecting the institution.
According to him, the power to appoint a vice chancellor in any federal university was vested in the governing council, as espoused in Section 3 (1.2.3.4.) of the University Miscellaneous Provision Act 2003.
The section states: “There shall be a vice chancellor of a university who shall be appointed by the governing council in accordance with the provision of this section.
“For the purpose of clarity”, Section 2A states, “the council, when constituted, shall have tenure of four years from the date of its inauguration, provided that where a council is found to be incompetent and corrupt, it shall be dissolved by the visitor and a new council be immediately constituted for the effective functioning of the university”.
The Uniport ASUU branch helmsman wondered why the Federal Government refused to constitute another governing council since the dissolution of the last council in May, 2020, saying that it was worrisome that the dissolved council was in the process of appointing a vice chancellor for the university whose tenure was to take effect from 13th July, 2020.
He accused the Federal Government of politicising the operations of university through its acts of omission and commission, which according to him, has exposed the university to all forms of manipulation by various interests within and outside the university.
He opined that the inability of the Federal Government to constitute a new council was an indication that it was not interested in the effective running of the institution, saying that the Federal Government has no justification for not constituting the governing council for the university after it reconstituted some governing councils of federal universities in the country on 13th July, 2020.
“We have brought this to the attention of the government through press releases, press conferences and lobbying without success.
“It is unthinkable that a government whose mantra is the fight against corruption could advertently or inadvertently be complicit in violating the rule of law.
“Obviously, there is a limit to what public officers would be allowed in their rape of the system,” he stated.
Sado warned that if the trend was not checked, the union would withdraw its cooperation with the acting vice chancellor after 13th January, 2021, when the tenure of the present occupant would elapse.
He used the opportunity to call on members of the public to synergize with the university community to ensure that the government does not continue to cause disharmony in the university system.