Bayelsa Medical Varsity Exonerates Diri on Disengagement of 198 Casual Workers

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Vice Chancellor of the Bayelsa Medical University (BMU), Professor Ebitimitula Etebu, has exonerated the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, of any involvement in the decision by the institution to disengage 198 persons that were improperly employed as casual workers in 2019 in a manner that violated the employment rules of the institution.

Etebu explained that the 198 casual workers were also disengaged because of their restiveness and the need to conserve resources to meet the demand for new lecturers needed to man newly accredited courses in the institution.

He made this known while reacting to claims that Governor Douye Diri was responsible for their sack, emphasising that Diri’s administration has nothing to do with the decision to disengage the embattled casual workers. 

Etebu said: “The current governor has nothing to do with anything. I am the vice chancellor, and I told them that they were trying to destabilise the institution. Every time they were threatening, saying they are going to do this and that. And because of the hard times, we have tolerated them for all this while, but they are now trying to take advantage of that fact.

“They go out and tell lies. These are the ones you are hearing. They go and write on Facebook and collude with the opposition. They use it to malign this current administration just to score cheap points for political gains.

“So, the institution decides to step them down due to constant security reports of their threats/restiveness to go on protest and make the University unmanageable.

“Aside that, in this last quarter of the year, we are going to be embarking on a flurry of advisory visits from over 13 regulatory bodies and the National Universities Commission (NUC). This is a ritual in a specialised university like ours. Those outside the system do not understand these dynamics.

“We need professional lecturers, technologists, technicians etc. These casual staff were foisted on us. The university has a regulation of employing three academic staff to one non-academic staff. Currently as things stand, our ratio is the reverse. We will implode if we continue in this manner.”

He, however, pointed out that the institution was following the guideline laid out by the NUC on employment of workers with the university system having dual employment, one for the lecturer and one for the non-academic staff, and one for the professional in the health profession.