The three non-teaching staff unions in the university system have demanded the immediate removal of the Vice Chancellor of Kogi State University, Prof. Hassan Isah over what they described as “gross mismanagement” of the affairs of the institution.
Speaking under the auspices of National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the workers blamed poor management for the decline in academic standard of the state-owned university.
Recently, Kogi State University was rated 111 out of 112 universities in the country, unlike some years back when the institution was rated number one amongst state universities in the country and number seven amongst all universities in Nigeria
Comrade Moses Balogun
The unions, during a protest to the palace of the traditional ruler of Anyigba, Alhaji Abu Shuibu Okolo, called for the removal of the Vice Chancellor, whom they said had performed far below expectations.
They accused management and the university governing council of not being responsive to the welfare workers in the institutions, noting that poor remuneration has led to brain drain in the institution.
Chairman of Joint Action Committee, Mr. Moses Babatunde, who represented the unions said the associations were demanding the implementation of the 2009 agreement, warning that failure by state government to honour the agreement reached with union will result in closure of the institution by October 1, 2014.
Babatunde, who handed the letter to the royal father, expressed worries that no positive result had come out of series of meetings with management hence the decision to down tool.
“Our major problem is the management of the university. We have met management more than 40 times. We have written to the university council more than 28 times and to kogi state government more than 18 times.
“We have met with the governor twice. We have met the deputy governor and the head of service. The principal officers, including the vice chancellor, the registrar, librarian, bursar, are not being owed salaries yet the staff are owed arrears of salaries. That is why people are leaving the institution,” he said.
Speaking on the quality of education in the school, the union leaders said: “It is sad that workers are leaving. The implication is that the good hands are not coming. For instance, let’s take the issue of tax. Professor in a federal university is paying less than N10, 000 as tax. But in Kogi state university, he will be paying between N60, 000 to N65, 000. Such a person will not come to the school because he will be discouraged to pay such outrageous amount as tax”.
