Visitation panel set up by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in 2020 to review the activities of Abia State University, Uturu from 2011 to 2020 has hit the ground running.
The visitation panel, headed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief J.U.K Igwe, was set up by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu after series of protests were carried out by various labour unions of the institution.
The panel was charged with reviewing the academic program with a view to ascertain the relevance and whether or not they are in line with the 21st century demands on education.
It will also review the guidance for admission and implementation, review all financial transactions from 2011 to 2020, and look into adequacy of staffing in both academics and otherwise. To consider the state of infrastructure in the institution, review administrative policies in terms of staff welfare, promotion as well as consider staff development in terms of training and research.
The visitation panel is also mandated to look into the qualification of academics whether it meets National University Commission (NUC) requirements and to make necessary recommendations on any other matter incidental or considered relevant to the growth of the institution.
The setting up of the panel by the Governor was received with relief by various stakeholders of the school, especially the school’s staff who saw the Governor’s intervention as apt and wise, as the school was challenged with avalanche of agitations, coming from academic staff, non-academic staff, students, parents and other stakeholders.
Recall that in September 28, 2020, the Uturu campus of ABSU was rocked by a heavy protest mounted by academic and non-academic staff of the school who marched round the school environment, chanting pro-labour union songs and armed with a long list of allegations against the management of the school.
The protest, led by the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), ABSU branch, Dr. Victor Nkemdirim, was used to draw the attention of the world to the plight of the staff of the university, who, according to Nkemdirim, had suffered untold hardship under the then management of the school, headed by Prof. Uche Ikonne.
Lifting high their placards in heavy hearts and sweating profusely in the sun, the staff alleged that they were being owed salaries from July 2009 to December 2010, totaling N901, 161, 550.82.
They also demanded the payment of N201, 000,000 cooperative welfare money and their Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).
The staff equally regretted that gratuities of several months of their colleagues had allegedly not been paid while the implementation of N30,000 minimum wage was yet to become a reality in the institution.
Not okay with their narration, the staff also called for the payment of accrued interest on seven and half percent contributory pension’s scheme, adding that non-remittance of union check off dues for six months should be looked into.
The issue of employment of staff, both academic and non-academic is another salient problem that rocked the school, especially during the era of Prof. Ikonne, as some interest groups in and outside the school claimed that the employment of staff in the institution did not follow the standard process, a claim that was faulted by the then VC.
Critics had claimed that the employment process was not only flawed, it was also allegedly run in favour of a particular clan, a claim also dismissed by the former VC as a blackmail.
Reformation exercises that took place in the school also resulted in the suspension of some lecturers while a few of them also allegedly resigned their jobs and left for other schools.
Particularly rocked by the suspension/resignation brouhaha was the department of Mass Communication where some suspended lecturers are still contesting their fate, even as one of them, a top officer is still said to be in Court, demanding his reinstatement to the job and payment of damage(s) for his alleged illegal and undeserved removal.
In 2019, the Abia State House of Assembly had intervened on the controversial issue of exorbitant acceptance fees reportedly imposed on ABSU students by the school management. The fees which ranged from 70,000 to N100,000 depending on the field of study, was stopped by the Abia State Parliament, after some agitated parents cried out.
The House in its decision had ruled that proper consultations were not carried out by the school before dishing out the new acceptance fees regime and this made the school to modify the acceptance fees to calm frayed nerves of students and parents.
A former Commissioner for Finance in Abia State (name withheld) who joined All Progressive Congress (APC) in late 2020, had also claimed that a lot of water passed under the bridge in terms of revenue generation and utilization in both Abia State Polytechnic Aba and Abia State University, Uturu.
Another group had also called on the former Vice Chancellor of ABSU, Prof. Uche Ikonne to account for N5b the school was said to have received from Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND).
But reacting to the mismanagement of funds allegations, the former V C, Ikonne dismissed them as untrue, insisting that ABSU under his leadership witnessed tremendous transformation. According to him, “various projects are ongoing in different campuses of the university.
The fund is not released to the VC but to the governing council. Every university is entitled to intervention which TETFUND is part of. “Apart from releasing of fund to a university, TETFUND follows up to make sure that the money is utilized for that particular stage of the project.
If at a particular stage of the project is not completed, they don’t release further funds for the next stage of the project .This is how they work; during our time, we applied for high impact fund which we got three billion naira and it was announced in the Senate.”
He continued, “The projects are going on in the three campuses of Uturu, Aba and Umuahia right now and they have not been completed. For some people to say that it was mismanaged means that the person does not know how it is funded” “We have never gotten sponsored research but it happened during my time and we got there through TETFUND and this has been utilized.
“ABSU has become a hub of research. Going through our laboratories can testify the amount of work we have put into it”. Ikonne had also during the 31st inaugural lecture of the University, held in May by Prof. Gazie Okpara, 2017, listed his achievements in the institution, which according to him, included foreign research partnership, study sponsorship for ABSU students and those for post graduate studies.
He also announced that laboratories in the College of Medicine had been equipped, while cultism had also received a big fight in the institution. Ikonne further celebrated that students and their parents had a course to jubilate as the sale of hand-outs and other poor quality books by lecturers had been banned in the school. The then VC however, regretted that some people went round the town claiming that studying in ABSU was exorbitant.
He noted that ABSU was rather, an affordable place to study even as he observed that “some of your kids spent their money on MMM Ponzi scheme while others live in hostels furnished with air conditioners, plasma TVs, big generator sets yet they come back to you parents to claim that ABSU is expensive. These, they do without explaining to their parents that they have spent their school fees on frivolities”
However, the visitation panel is not expected to probe the tenure of Prof. Uche Ikonne alone, as the tenure of Ikonne’s predecessor, Prof. Chibuzor Ogbuagu is captured in the probe period. Ogbuagu reigned from 2010 to 2015 while Ikonne led from 2015 to 2020.
This means that activities which took place during the period of Prof. Ogbuagu would occupy about 45℅ of the period which means his tenure would also be in the mirror. The panel has, in the meantime, called for memoranda from all interested individuals and groups, internal and external members of the public who have anything to demand or contribute to the panel to reach it on or before 9th April, 2021.
So far, a source at Office of the Head of Service, Umuahia, where the visitation panel sits, said a lot of petitions have been received from different parts of the State. He however, refused to disclose the Identity of the petitioners, as according to him, such matter is treated with utmost confidence.
He however explained that the visitation panel was studying the letters from various quarters and carrying out a fact finding visits to the three campuses of the university, to compare and contrast petitions from available achievements. The report of the visitation panel is expected to be submitted to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu after the conclusion of findings.
For now, it is still not known if Pandora’s Box will be opened through the report, or if it will vindicate the ex-vice chancellors of the school.
Another poser is the fact that the current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Maxwell Ogbulu is an immediate-past Deputy Vice Chancellor of ABSU while the ex -VC, Prof. Uche Ikonne was a long time lecturer in ABSU before becoming the Vice Chancellor.
What this shows is that the scope of review of activities will vindicate the ABSU leaders, contractors, union leaders, State government officials or expose their failures. For now, all eyes of stakeholders are on the panel and what it could produce.
