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• Demand recall of sacked FUNAAB members
By Gabriel Dike
Worried by the high level of corruption in Nigerian universities, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to also target the universities in the battle against corruption.
SSANU Lagos State University (LASU) chairman, Mr. Oseni Saheed, who made the call, said that the corruption in the universities is much more than what happens in the political realm, noting that it was absolutely necessary for the anti-corruption agencies to beam their searchlight on the tertiary institutions and prosecute university administrators found wanting.
Saheed also asked the federal government to immediately direct the reinstatement of sacked SSANU members at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB) against the backdrop of the prosecution of the Pro Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Bursar by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption based on the workers petition.
He told Sunday Sun that some vice chancellors were taking reckless decisions in clear contravention of the relevant laws that established the universities.
Giving further explanation, he said: “SSANU is the only union challenging the excesses of vice chancellors (VCs). Some VCs sees themselves as god. Government has given VCs too much power. Corruption going on in the Nigerian university system is too much.”
On the FUNAAB crisis, Saheed urged the federal government to suspend, without further delay, the Pro Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and the Bursar who were arraigned in court by the EFCC for alleged corruption running into N800million.
His words: “The best thing government can do, is to ask the Pro Chancellor, VC and Bursar to step aside until the case at the Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta is over. At the moment, the trio must step aside so that investigation will not be tempered with. The government is in the best position to ask the VC and others to step aside.
“It is very clear that the sacking of the staff is questionable. The process was faulty; it did not follow due process. They were not issued queries or asked to appear before a senior staff disciplinary committee of the council. The governing council did not investigate the allegations against the VC before sacking the staff.”
Saheed said following the prosecution of FUNNAB officials based on the petition of the staff, the sacked workers should be recalled without further delay. He commended the national body (SSANU) for taking up the case and bringing it to the public domain.
The EFCC recently arraigned the chairman of FUNAAB Governing Council, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, the vice chancellor, Prof Olusola Oyewole and the Bursar, Mr. Moses Illesanmi on 18-count charge bordering on alleged stealing, abuse of office and fraudulent conversion of university property, before Justice O.O. Majekodunmi of the Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta based on a petition by the university workers.
