A former chairman of the Academic Staff Union of the Universities, ASUU, University of Port Harcourt branch, Professor Andrew Efemini says the reconstitution of the Governing Council of the institution is necessary but not as urgent as being urged by the institution’s chapter Chairman of ASUU, Dr Austin Sado.
Dr Sado had on Thursday asked the visitor of the institution, President Muhammadu Buhari to keep faith with the provisions of the Universities Miscellaneous Amendment Act and constitute the council which was dissolved on the 28 of May.
He said: “According to the university (miscellaneous provisions) (amendments) Art 2003 otherwise called the university autonomy Act no 1, 2007 the only known reason for which the Visitor may dissolve a governing council of the Federal university are ‘incompetence’ and ‘corruption’”.
“The council so constituted shall have a tenure of four years from the date of its inauguration provided that where a council is found incompetent and corrupt it shall be dissolved by the Visitor and a new council shall be immediately constituted for the effective functioning of the university.”
Dr Sado opined that the provision was clear that a council should immediately be constituted after its dissolution adding that the Act “does not give any room for vacuum in the governance of the university.”
He said: “To dissolve the governing council without reconstituting another council has created a vacuum and almost tantamount to making the Vice-Chancellor a sole administrator, particular at this period of the COVID-19 when the Senate of the university cannot be convened.
“There are critical issues in the university including but not limited to the award of contracts, staff welfare and discipline that should not be left to the whims of any vice Chancellor no matter how well intention such an administration maybe. If the government is serious about fighting corruption, the university should not be allowed to operate without a governing council.”, Dr Sado concluded
But Efemini in a swift reaction in a statement made available to theportcitynews on Sunday entitled: “Rejoinder To The Press Release By The Chairman of ASUU, Uniport Branch” said the government should, first of all, have been commended for dissolving the Governing Council whose activities, he said, have become tyrannical, arbitrary, incoherent, disorganized, divisive, disrespectful of the Pro-Chancellor, nonchalant of government’s position and interests.
He noted that the press release by the Chairman ignored these issues and the public could be misled to believe that the dissolution was not proper.
According to Efemini: “The Chairman raised two reasons for possible Governing Council dissolution; incompetence and corruption. Any person familiar with the dissolved Governing Council of UNIPORT needs not to raise those concerns. Beyond being incompetent, there was no Governing Council strictly going by the University of Port Harcourt Act since 2017.
“Seven internal members of the dissolved Governing Council did not have legitimate or legal status. Six were members of the Governing Council in violation of the four-year tenure as stipulated by University Act. The seventh member from Convocation went to the Council without election as prescribed by the University Act.
“One would have expected a proactive Union to have called for the dissolution of the Governing Council or at best thank the Federal Government for doing so”.
On the solutions that will ensure the vacuum is filled, the former ASUU chair urged the Federal Government to take all necessary steps to save the University of Port Harcourt from the sources of self-inflicted injuries that have been partially treated with the dissolution of the Governing Council.
The professor of Philosophy of Development who had accused the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ndowa S Lale of imposing illegal Council Members on the University, explained that the reconstitution of the Governing Council is necessary but not as urgent as the Chairman is urging.
“The reason is simple; all government needs to do is to appoint a Pro-Chancellor and four other members. But this would compound the problem that led to the dissolution of the previous Council.
“The five external members are supposed to be joined by seven internal members of the Council. Presently, we don’t have the required legal internal Council members. Is the Chairman saying Government should appoint five members to be joined by the seven illegal Council members? That will be a recipe for anarchy and more crises than the ones that led to the dissolution of the last Governing Council.
“The logical thing to do is to first confirm if the status of the internal members were actually illegal and illegitimate. The University Act empowers the President to resolve the conflict of interpretation of provisions of the Act. We don’t want the illegal Council members to hold the system to ransom when the Federal Government sends its nominees.
“Once the status of internal members is resolved, the Council can then be reconstituted. All we should hope and pray for is that these processes are concluded as soon as possible.
“The University of Port Harcourt has run without a Governing Council even under the present Administration. We must, therefore, be careful not to create the impression that ASUU UNIPORT is not analytical enough in appreciating the complex situation before us”.
