From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike (AEFUNAI) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disbursed ₦500,000, scholarship fund to three indigent students of the institution.
The recipients are, Ezeakolam Solomon Chidiebube (Department of Economics and Developmental Studies); Okorie, Akunna Bridget (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture); and Alozie, Rosemary Olanma (Department of Philosophy and Religion).
ASUU said the scholarship fund which was a one-off offer was designed to provide financial succour to the beneficiaries and enable run their academic programmes.
Comrade Joseph Chukwu, AE-FUNAI ASUU Secretary, in a statement, on Monday, disclosed that the national secretariat of ASUU awarded two of the scholarships, while the AEFUNAI branch of the Union awarded the remaining one.
The statement further noted that AEFUNAI ASUU branch chairperson, Comrade Louis Omenyi, described the gesture as a practical demonstration of the Union’s rejection of the World Bank-inspired policy on commercialisation of education, to which Nigerian government had been hooked as well as the fulfilment of their social corporate responsibility.
He said the Union will continue in the direction until they rescued the educational system and the country as a whole from the stranglehold of the ruinous imperialist, capitalist and heartless neo-colonialists and their wicked agents in Nigeria.
He added that ASUU will continue to reject and resist the continued withholding of their eight months salary, non-payment of their Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), inconclusiveness of the Prof. Nimi Briggs-led re-negotiation agreement, continued illegal imposition of IPPIS on the Nigerian University System, and the imposition of the so-called Core Curriculum Academic Minimum Standards (CCMAS), and any other anti-welfarist actions against its members.
AEFUNAI Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Elom, commended ASUU for the kind gesture towards the indigent students in the university, and called on other Unions and organisations to borrow a leaf from ASUU by supporting indigent students, assuring that the university will continue to provide favourable level playing ground for students to exist.
Prof. Elom who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) Prof. Abel Ezeoha, stated that, “for ASUU to afford the kind gesture at this time of scarcity tells much about what ASUU stands for, and counselled the beneficiaries not to divert the gift but use it for their educational needs.
Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Fidelis Okpata of the department of Political Science, commended the spirit behind ASUU’s gesture as worthwhile and a reflection of its being the defender of the defenceless.
In their goodwill messages, Prof. Ogugua Egwu, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the immediate-past Chairperson of ASUU AEFUNAI; branch chairman of NASU represented by Comrade Kelechi Nwali, and the SUG President represented by Comrade Uzu Amobi Ekunyi, all eulogized ASUU for the humanitarian gesture.
One of the beneficiary, Ezeakolam Solomon Chidiebube, who spoke on behalf of others thanked ASUU for the kind gesture, adding that it would go a long way in solving their financial problems.