As the Federal Government declared on Tuesday that it
would not honour the 2009 Agreement it reached with the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), lecturers in the University of Calabar and Cross River University of Science and Technology have accused the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission
(NUC), Prof. Julius Okogie, of fueling the crisis that has led to the current strike by university lecturers.
In a statement jointly signed by chairman of UNICAL branch of the union, Dr. James Okpiliya, and his CRUTECH counterpart, Dr. Nsing Ogar, the ASUU officials accused the NUC boss of carrying out a campaign of calumny against the lecturers by publishing what it
claimed is the salary of university teachers in the media.
“Government and its agents, particularly the National
Universities Commission, have rather chosen propaganda by publishing salaries of academics and releases to universities in their ill-conceived campaign to canvass public opinion against ASUU,” the statement read. The lecturers said instead of addressing the issues at stake, Okogie, at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Education, is busy conducting campaign of
calumny against the union.
The ASUU officials, who accused the NUC boss of desperately trying to discredit the union, said, “We challenge the NUC Executive Secretary to publish his salary and declare his assets. It would interest the union and Nigerians to know his stake in the ICT contracts in all public universities and the vast empire
he has suddenly acquired for himself.”
However, the lecturers expressed regrets at the
attitude of the NUC, stating that “a body charged with the role of regulating and facilitating the general repositioning of universities for excellence and
productivity has itself become a problem in bringing this about, with its head as the Chief Obstructer.”
