The Vice Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Professor Hillary Odo Edeoga fights the fiercest battle of his life as he struggles to purge himself of over N300 million alleged financial scandal and other sundry allegations which border on his style of leadership - which the Academic staff union of universities and students are complaining about
By Sam Obinna Ibe/Umuahia
This tale has every trapping of an ironic twist.But it is the sad tale of the strange, uneasy times which Professor Hillary Odo Edeoga, the Vice-Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike in Abia State, faces.
The Vice Chancellor assumed duties on 1 march ,2011 after the expiration of tenure of Professor Ikenna Onyido.The Enugu state born Vice Chancellor was on assumption said to have taken the university by storm through programmes that promoted academic excellence as well as staff welfare. He did not stop at that ,he also embarked on Massive Infrastructural development of the university that was once regarded as a glorified secondary school. The turnaround of things in the Institution made staff and students to eulogise the vice chancellor, saying that a Daniel had finally come to Judgement. Even his critics could not help but applaud the transformation agenda going on in the university community.
But alas, now, less than eight(8) months for the Vice chancellor to vacate office, it does appear the law of diminishing returns has set in his administration. Education watchers of the university of Agriculture are now alleging that things have indeed fallen apart drastically as the centre can no longer hold.
Besides,those lecturers who once sang the praises of the Vice Chancellor are now singing different tunes .They no longer reckon with him as the much talked about messiah , but they are now criticising his style of leadership which they said runs counter to the ideals of the university ,and by extension , the laid down regulations of the National Universities Commission(NUC)
As if this is not enough, the embattled Vice Chancellor is perhaps fighting the fiercest battle of his life as he is being accused of financial scam to the tune of N300 million said to have been compulsory hostel fees received from first year students. His distractors who spoke to our correspondent said that over 5000 newly admitted students were compelled to pay the compulsory hostel fee and the worse of it all is that the university is yet to refund the money to those students who were not offered accommodation.
Our source revealed that the parents of the newly admitted students who reside in umuahia are questioning the rationale behind subjecting their children to the compulsory hostel fees payment, arguing that they can still attend lectures from umuahia and get to the school on time.
Irked, by his style of leadership which they said is not in line with the provision of the school’s extant laws.,the Academic Staff Union Of The Universities has also dragged the Vice Chancellor to court.
In a letter- stumbled upon by this reporter -sometime last year, addressed to the chairman governing council , ASUU enumerated what they regarded as the wrongdoings of the VC which they argued were not in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Institution, pointing out that if urgent steps were not taken to redress the downward trend of things , the university which was once ranked the second best in the country after university of Ibadan in 2003 would become a laughing stock before the community of other universities in terms of Academic excellence.
Some of the excesses of the VC ASUU point out included issues bpordering on irregular appointments,staff welfare and discipline,hostel management and fees and Micro finance Bank and new University centre among other sundry allegations.For instance, the VC was accused of imposing the #60,000 compulsory hostel fee for the year one students totalling about #300 million for over 5000 newly admitted students of 2013/2014 session.ASUU wondered why hostel accommodation in the campus should be more expensive than private hostels.Besides,students were compelled to pay #1000 to a consultant to qualify for the balloting when it is supposed to be handled by the Students Affairs department at zero cost.To this end,ASUU further argued that the system ought to exploit its own.
Again ,there was said to be a case of unapproved fee of #2,500 for validation of registration after they had paid #5,000 ICT fees.The vice chancellor was also accused of charging #2,000 to help students get their JAMB Letters of Admission which students said were not given to them till graduation.
One of the university dons who is respected in the university community but who craved anonymity said that high hand style of leadership introduced by professor Edeoga is no longer a hidden secret .He accused the VC of not carrying critical stakeholders along while taken crucial decisions which he said have affected the university adversely.
The VC who assumed duty on 1 March,2011 said to have inherited 22 fully accredited programmes from his predecessor,Professor Ikenna Onyido led Administration but regretably11 of these programmes have lost accreditation and 10 have interim accreditation and 1 Electrical Electronics Engneering lost accreditation and hence wil not admit students in the next season..In addition, it was revealed that Michaell Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU) graduates in College of Management Sciences (COLMAS) have been demobilised since November2014 as a result of degrees awarded to them not approved by NUC.Sadly,parents of the demobilised students were said to gathered to meet with the VC on this ugly development and to chart the way forward but to their surprise, the VC alleged threatened to arrest them for breaching peace of the university.
Also ,the VC was also accused of single handedly of employing close to 1000 staff using the provision of temporary appointment and at such no competitive selection process or most of the appointments.It is said that the VC has employed over 80 of blood relations in MOUAU with evidence of some suggestive surnames (names withheld)
The embattled VC was also accused of violation of federal character in staff recruitment and training.A source told our Correspondent that most of the lecturers taken and sent abroad for short term courses and other trainings are from his home state Enugu .They cited examples in Department of Fisheries and College of Engineering (names withheld).
Another source revealed a case in College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET),where a female lecturer recently employed by the VC has always pleaded not to be given courses that have anything to do with mathematical calculations.
On placement of newly recruited staff a former staff of a state owned Broadcasting Corporation of Abia( BCA) was brought into MOUAU in April 2011 in breach of employment due process and made the head of the Institution public Relations Office on the rank of Admin Assistant( AA) equivalent.She was said to have attended a so-called regularization interview in 2012 and was promoted to Senior Assistant Registrar (SAR) again in breach of due process,which was back-dated to April 2011.The meaning of this commentators in the education sector say is that her entry point was as a Senior Assistant Registrar, even when she did not have university work experince .But she jumped the intervening ranks of Admin Officer (,AO) and Assistant Registrar( AR) to become SAR..She was also said not to have transfered her service from BCA to MOUAU.
Continuing with the barage of criticisms was a case of an academic staff ,a Professor who was accused of sexual harrasment of his two students .The professor was suspended by the VC’s predeessor,Prof Ikenna Onyido to serve as a deterrent to others after setting up disciplinary committee but when Prof Edeoga assumed duty,he was said to have disbanded the committee shielded the accused Profesor from disciplinary action and paid him arrears of #10.1million.
Again the case of one MOUAU staff said to be a close ally to the VC who was accused of possessing an invalid PHD.He was appointed Director of contuining Education centre( CEC)and subsequently promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer on the basis of his invalid PHD.The lecturer in question claimed to have obtained a PhD from our Saviour's University in United States of America which is not accredited by the federal ministry of Education.
Disturbed by this avalanche of allegations,one of the Lecturers Dr Sabastin Okorie has openly called for the visitation panel to the university to investigate the tenure of Prof Edeoga alleging that the VC not only runs university like a sole administrator but that he is the sole financial beneficiaries of all transactions in the institution.
In the same vein,Concerned ASUU Members MOUAU Chapter have called on the Visitor for the immediate and urgent constitution of a presidential visitation and Judicial panels for MOUAU and that the council should suspend the VC forthwith to enable unfettered access to files and documents needed for a thorough investigation by the panels adding that this will serve as a deterrent to other Vice Chancellors who may wish to get away with this bringandage in their Institutions ifnothing is done in case of Prof Edeoga.
when contacted, the Vice Chancello Prof Edeoga failed to state his own side of the story in spite of several phone calls.Even the text message sent to his phone was not answered. However,reacting ,the PRO of MOUAU ,Mrs Onyinye Ralph Nwachukwu denied all the allegations leveled against her boss, saying that it is a section of ASUU that is not happy with the VC .She said the VC is doing his best to move the university to greater height. She however attributed the whole drama as the handiwork of the VC's detractors.
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