Following the recent transformation of Ndele Campus by Professor Okechuku Onuchuku-led administration, the campus will soon become the best campus and envy of all.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Head of Ndele Campus, Professor Isaac Ogundu and made available to The Tide during a courtesy visit paid to the Ndele Campus by the President of University Education Wives’ Association (UEWA), Mrs Chika Onuchukurecently in Ndele, Rivers State, .
Prof Ogundu  observed that the era of transformation of the campus as witnessed is a tip of the iceberg and enjoined all and sundry to be part of the success story.
He lauded the Vice Chancellor for the brand new 200 mattressesand other bedding materials provided for the campus, affirming that by the time the Vice Chancellor is done with the campus, many staff and students would clamour to move over to Ndele.
The head of the campus also commended the UEWA President for having the campus at heart and for the unprecedented visit.
He described the information received as quite amplifying stressing that most male senior staff did not know that their wives were automatic members of the vibrant association, neither have they had the rare opportunity of such visit that exposed and englighened them of the objectives of the association and what they stand to benefit from being a part of it.
He expressed optimism that Mrs Onuchuku would build a lasting legacy for the association with the kind of energy that is being injected.
Earlier the President of UEWA, Mrs Chika Onuchuku, solicited for support and contribution to make the association great. She promised to rotate the venue of meeting days among the three campuses to favour and give all a sense of belonging.
Mrs Onuchuku also promised to tackle the mobility constraints faced by members of the campus so that they can attend UEWA meetings.
The visit provided avenue for questions and interactions by members of the campus gifted with the new faculty of agriculture.
They also lived up to the responsibility of being the food basket of the university with various gift presentations made to the wife of the Vice Chancellor and members of her entourage.
The items presented were freshly harvested from their farm after a guided tour of the campus.
tence on Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) against University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), which the union described as a more reliable alternative payment system.
The union urged stakeholders to prevail on the government to do the needful to save colleges of education from incessant strikes.
He said: “While the long-anticipated renegotiation of COEASU-FGN 2010 agreement holds enormous promise for mutual resolution of several challenges bedeviling the COE sub-sector, the FG has failed to accord the exercise deserved priority. Ridiculously, government has refused to constitute its own renegotiation team after acknowledging receipt of our union’s team list on her own request for over two months now.

“Government has refused to fulfill its pledge of N15b revitalisation fund. Apart from being a far cry from N478b proposed at the 2014 Presidential Needs Assessment across public COEs, the delay in its release has made nonsense of the value due to inflation.

“Poor funding of Colleges of Education and poor conditions across state-owned COEs In spite of our agitations and government’s persistent promise of redress, both Federal and State COEs remain poorly funded.

“Reign of impunity, statutory breach and administrative aberration persists; our members, especially in state COEs, continue to suffer untold hardships through non-payment of salary and salary arrears, refusal to implement statutory salary structure in full, extraneous promotion criteria, idiosyncratic policies, non/improper domestication of 65-year retirement age for workers in the COE system; multiple promotions without financial effects and repression of union activities, among others.

“Many colleges find it difficult to run smoothly due to non-release of running costs by government. State governments have abdicated their responsibility as proprietors to TETFund, as the only projects you see in the colleges are TETFund projects.”

Lana lamented that IPPIS is causing more havoc good to tertiary institutions. He noted that up till the end of March 2022, about 1,219 lecturers in COEs are experiencing problems with the payment platform.

“COEASU has demanded the adoption of UTAS, an alternative innovation of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). UTAS has been found superior to IPPIS as it has the capacity to address our payroll security concerns and peculiarities of tertiary institutions. It is therefore ludicrous that FG has remained adamant on retaining IPPIS despite its injurious effects.

He said after extensive deliberations on the outcome of referendum conducted across chapters of the union, NEC resolved to issue government a 21-day ultimatum to do the needful within the period.

Mobilisation Coordinator of Education Rights Campaign, Michael Lenin, said:
“The blame for these strike actions that have grounded tertiary education must be placed at the doorstep of the government. It is quite unprecedented that all the major unions in the tertiary education sector will be on strike; however, it showed the level of damage the negligence of successive governments have done to the sector through chronic under-funding.

“This is the time for Nigerian students to rise and demand that all the demands of striking workers must be met and the sector must be repositioned from the current horrific state it is in.”

But the Federal Government has said that it is in consultation with COEASU and has held series of meetings with the union with a view to resolving the issues.

By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana