The Nation Newspaper

Tag: RSUST

  • ‘95% of RSUST lecturers abandoned strike’

    ‘95% of RSUST lecturers abandoned strike’

    The Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) said 95 per cent of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have resumed academic work in spite of the ongoing strike by the lecturers.

    The University’s spokesman, Mr. Desmond Wosu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in a chat in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that ASUU had declared media war against the university.

    He alleged that the union had resorted to portraying the university in a negative manner so as to publicly undermine its credibility.

    Wosu was reacting to a call by the leadership of ASUU for the state government to set-up a panel of inquire to establish the legality of the reappointment of Prof. Barineme Fakae as Vice-Chancellor.

    He said the call by ASUU was regrettable, especially as Governor Chibuike Amaechi had encouraged the union to seek court redress if it felt that the reappointment exercise lacked transparency.

    He said, “I think what the national leadership of ASUU should do is, if they want legal interpretation of what Governor Amaechi had done; is to go to a competent court of jurisdiction, instead of blackmail and campaign of calumny against Amaechi and the management of this university.

    “For ASUU to continue to blackmail us and wage media war against this university is unfortunate because more than 95 per cent of academic staff have come back to work after realising that it was unnecessary for them to have embarked on the strike in the first place.

    “We appeal to ASUU to sheathe their swords and prevail on its members, who are out there to come back to work because Amaechi performed his civic responsibility of appointing a vice-chancellor for this university.”

     

  • ASUU decries lawlessness in varsities

    ASUU decries lawlessness in varsities

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised alarm over the current lawlessness in the nation’s universities.

    The National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir F. Isa, while speaking to journalists at the ASUU secretariat in Bayero University, Kano, on Monday, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently intervene in the crisis-ridden universities so as to protect the future of the Nigerian youth.

    Issues raised by the ASUU chief are – the killing of students at Nasarawa State University, Keffi , leadership crisis at Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), disregard for court orders at University of Ilorin, release of White Paper on President Jonathan’s special visitation to University of Abuja and the need for reconstitution of Governing Councils for Federal Universities in the country.

    The body called for a full-scale investigation into the killing of two students at NSUK with a bid to bringing culprits to justice.

    According to Isa, while two students are already dead as a fall out of the NSUK crisis, over 20 students received varying degrees of injuries during the incident.

    He pointed out that experience over the years has shown that recourse to military intervention in civil matters like students’ unrest is unfortunate.

    Isa said, “The questions begging for answers, however, are: why would the authorities of NSUK Keffi refuse to provide basic boreholes that can sufficiently meet the water needs of their students?

    “Why would they refuse to respond to the entreaties and eventual warnings of the students before February 25th? Why did the authorities of NSUK ignore the students’ lecture boycott of February 25th? Who invited the military to quell students’ peaceful protest? Who ordered for the shootings and killings of university students?

    “We are requesting the visitor to NSUK to institute an inquiry into the killings of our students. We are warning that unless the immediate and remote causes of the killings are identified and appropriate punitive measures taken against the killers of our innocent students. Our union will leave no stone unturned in our pursuance of justice to all the victims of this madness.”

    RSUST,

  • RSUST: ‘ASUU is open to dialogue with Rivers government’

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Rivers State University of Science and Technology chapter, said on Wednesday in Port Harcourt that it was ready to dialogue with government to end its four-month-long strike.

    The union embarked on strike on August 13 to challenge the re-appointment of Prof. Barineme Fakae as the institution’s vice-chancellor.

    It claimed that Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi did not follow due process in the re-appointment.

    The chapter chairman, Dr. Felix Igwe, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the state government should be held responsible for the ongoing strike by lecturers in the university because of its refusal to dialogue with the union.

    He alleged that the union’s meeting of August 15 held to seek possible solution to the impasse was disrupted by thugs sponsored by the university administration.

    “The union had always been ready to talk; it is the absence of dialogue (with government) that brought about the strike in the first instance.

    “The day I was attacked with other members of the union, we were holding meeting and that attack was sponsored by the university administration and led by the chief security officer of the university.

    “The vice-chancellor, the university administration and the government are not interested in any kind of discussion at all.

    “The union is available, willing, and always there to engage in discussion and because they (university administration) know that what they have done is wrong, that’s why they don’t want to open an avenue for discussion because when you discuss, superior opinion will prevail,’’ Dr. Igwe told NAN.

    On the university’s claims that 70 per cent of striking lecturers had resumed academic activities, he described the claims as false and untrue.

    He said that lecturers would resume academic activities only when government followed the provisions of the law of the university in appointing a vice-chancellor.

     

  • RSUST lecturers yet to resume

    THE crisis at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, persists, with members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ignoring a directive to resume yesterday.

    The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Barineme Fakae, in a telephone interview yesterday, said freshmen had resumed.

    Fakae claimed that there was no strike in the university.

    ASUU Chairman Felix Igwe, however, declared that over 75 per cent of the lecturers had been on strike since August 13, protesting the re-appointment of Fakae without following due process.

    The VC, who spoke through the university’s Public Relations Officer, Des Wosu, said: “ The Senate of RSUST earlier approved the calendar for this academic session. Fresh students resumed today (yesterday).

    “The returning students will resume on December 17. More than 85 per cent of lecturers are willing to resume lectures, having backed out of the strike a long time ago.

    “The university is running smoothly. RSUST’s ASUU chairman and a few members of his executive may no longer be aware of the current situation on the campus.”

    But Igwe insisted that the lecturers would not resume, until due process was followed in the appointment of a vice-chancellor.

    He said the institution faced collapse in academic etiquette and that instead of addressing the issues that led to the indefinite strike, the management was chasing shadows.

    The ASUU chairman said the lecturers taught for just five weeks before the strike commenced.

    “But the students were forced to write second semester examinations with old question papers, from September 17,” he said.

    He noted that the National Universities Commission (NUC) recommended that before examinations, students must have been taught for 12 or 13 weeks.

    The ASUU Chairman said: “Members of ASUU in RSUST have been on strike since August 13 and the strike is still on.

    “There has been no discussion whatsoever with the union on how to correct the anomaly, criminal abuse of due process and established procedure that led to the strike.

    “It is the function of the university administration to close or open the university, but members of ASUU in RSUST are presently on strike.”

  • ‘RSUST ASUU strike uncalled for’

    THE Regional Director of the National Youth Development and Intervention in the Niger Delta, Captain Graham Boms, yesterday condemned the strike by the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    The union has been on strike in protest of the re-appointment of Prof. Barineme Fakae as the institution’s Vice-Chancellor by Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    ASUU said Fakae does not qualify for the position and his re-appointment did not follow due process.

    During a visit to the Port Harcourt office of the Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, publishers of The Tide, Boms said: “I am asking ASUU to move away from its hidden agenda and support Fakae and his transformation agenda for the institution, which is in line with the state and Federal governments’ policies.

    “Fakae is doing well and ASUU should not stand in his way. If the strike continues, the students will suffer. Some will miss the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and others may lose the academic year.

    “The lecturers have no business with who appoints or who is appointed VC. Amaechi’s decision followed due process. ASUU should allow Fakae continue with the good work he is doing. I have gone to RSUST to see things for myself. Fakae should be allowed to work.”