ASUU VS FUOYE: MATTERS ARISING

Recently, a piece entitled: “Again, ASUU alleges corruption, mismanagement, tyranny in FUOYE’, was published in one of the national newspapers. Unfortunately, the write-up in question attacked, without caution, the office and person of the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Soremekun.

Thousands of informed and rational readers, expectant of a balanced article, perhaps, would have consumed the piece. Therefore, this piece is to set the records straight.

First, the piece misinformed the public that FUOYE’s local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities had again cried out against what the writer mischievously alleged as the “impunity and administrative recklessness” of the institution’s management. The wonder here is: Which local body of ASUU was the writer referring to? This is because at the moment, ASUU in FUOYE is in disarray. There are now, in fact, several splinter groups and some of them are so disillusioned that they have decided to cast their lot with the management while some have even decided to form a separate body, distinct from ASUU.

Secondly, the writer claimed that the ASUU zonal body raised concerns at a press briefing about “perceived docility of the federal government in acting on the allegations of administrative recklessness earlier raised against the VC, and the failure to constitute a visitation panel to the university to “correct all ills and anomalies”. But one wonders if this writer thinks that the federal government would be so naive that it would pay attention to such unfounded lies when indeed, the VC had, in several counter press briefings, adequately replied such falsehood raised against him.

Moreover, there have been many laughable allegations by the zonal ASUU leadership which had been proved to be mere falsehood. For instance, there was the allegation that the VC bought many buildings in the capital city of Ado-Ekiti, and also got involved in pension jerk ups all of which were found to be untrue as none of these accusers has been able to come up with any evidence of such property belonging to the VC. Meanwhile, pension deductions of all staff of FUOYE are duties performed only by revenue bodies in government outside the university management’s purview.

The writer also reminded his readers about a March 5, 2019 press briefing where ASUU purportedly raised an alarm on the VC’s alleged “rule of tyranny…other sundry allegations bordering on academic patronage, financial mismanagement, rotten state of infrastructure, and students’ welfare”. Again, here lies the insincerity and misleading nature of such claims as they (local ASUU and in cahoots with the Akure zone) had yet to produce incontrovertible evidence for such malicious allegations.

On the issue of poor infrastructure in FUOYE, while this is not a peculiar feature to the institution, there are incontrovertible pieces of evidence that students and lecturers of the university on a daily basis laud the ingenuity of the university management in providing befitting infrastructural and learning facilities in the twin campuses of the institution. Indeed, since he assumed office, the Vice Chancellor can boast of having initiated, built and still building over 40 projects. Those structures are not ghosts. Rather, they dot the expansive landscape of the university for any curious eye to behold!

An attestation to the VC’s performance is a recent award of excellence given to him by FUOYE’s Students’ Union Government in recognition of his “contributions to improved learning conditions, increased accreditation of programmes leading to numerical expansion and infrastructural development in the school.”

On the issue raised about the acting bursar of the school, recall that former bursar of FUOYE had died suddenly in 2017, and shortly after that, the then chairman of the university council, resigned and to that extent there was a vacuum. On this note, it is instructive to appreciate that only the council is responsible for setting in motion the process of appointing a substantive bursar. And it was only recently that the federal government appointed a new chairman for the governing council. Pray! How does this development amount to administrative recklessness and violations of the university statutes on the part of the VC?

We would like to advise the Zonal ASUU, Akure, to live up to expectations and emulate exemplary leaders like Professors Lai Olorode, Dipo Fashina, Attahiru Jega and Assisi Asobie who have paid their dues to the union without any damage to their respective reputations.

Geoffery Bakji,

PRO, Federal University Oye-Ekiti,
Ekiti State