Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Tuesday, picketed the university’s administrative block in protest over what they described as the Chairman of the University’s Governing Council, Greg Mbadiwe, imposition of the vice chancellor on the university.
The ASUU protesters bore placards with various inscriptions and chanted solidarity songs in protest against the alleged imposition.
Upon reaching the university’s administrative block, it was observed that the building was locked, an unlikely scenario considering that it controls all administrative concerns of the institution.
Speaking at the block, the ASUU-NAU Chairperson, Comrade Kingsley Uba-Orji, said the lockdown of the administrative block indicated illegal activity.
According to him, the hallowed chambers of the institution’s governing council cannot be locked up unless there is a fishy business going on.
He said they had received intel that the Chairman of the University’s Governing Council, Mr Mbadiwe, was holding a meeting at a nearby hotel, where he appointed a candidate for the Vice Chancellorship position.
“You can see that the admin block is locked and it is an indication that illegality is going on.
“You cannot lock the hallowed chamber of the governing council and you go to a hotel and appoint principal officers of the University.
“Principal officers of the university are not appointed in hotel rooms.
“The governing council chairman has refused the input of the University’s Senate. There was nobody appointed by the Senate to be part of the selection and screening process. He did everything by himself,” he said.
Orji regretted that the series of protests that ASUU had embarked on against the government for university autonomy was in response to the harsh economic times, which have impoverished university lecturers and reduced the quality of education in tertiary institutions.
However, he regretted that the Chairman of the governing council was trying to rubbish this autonomy by imposing a vice chancellor on the university community.
“Our members cannot even pay for transportation to this congress and to go to their offices because of the huge economy.
“This is the problem ASUU has been fighting against and the government is trying to impose people that will do more of the bidding of the government than that of the system. There is a difference between the players and the system.
“So, we are calling on the Federal Government, to call to order, the University’s Governing Council Chairman, who has not been keeping to the terms of due process, in the appointment of the Registrar and the Vice Chancellor.
“As we speak, they are in Maxbee Hotel.
“I don’t know why this will be done especially considering that this university is named after the great ZIK of Africa.
“Now, his bosom friend’s son is decimating the name of this University by appointing the Vice Chancellor in a hotel.
“Greg Mbadiwe should desist from the illegality he is perpetrating by imposing a Vice-Chancellor on the University,” he said.
