By Editor
Education, they say, forms the solid base for the development of any nation and the drivers of this development are the lecturers who are meant to impact knowledge on the students.
But the drivers of this initiative are being frustrated in one way or the other in Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma.
Decrying this, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma Chapter, chairman, Dr. Cyril Oziegbe Onogbosele, said the situation is appalling that lecturers are being allegedly compelled to pay fee before they could access their offices.
He expressed his resentment while briefing newsmen in Benin City about what they have been facing in the institution.
“Workers have been coerced to pay money to access their offices in the University.
“Driven by the desire of the University Administration to generate revenue internally, (Special Intervention Team) SIT/University Administration, without consultation and authorization by staff, forcefully deducted “access fee” from staff salaries.
“All attempts, including letters written by our Union to the University Administration calling for a reversal of the deduction were ignored.
“AAU, Ekpoma is the only public University in the state and the country as a whole where workers pay fees to have access to their offices.
“The situation in the University is pathetic, viewed especially against the backdrop of a university in a democratic dispensation.
“Yet, those in power believe that their powers are limited only by their imagination and not the Constitution or extant laws.
“The Union condemns the present situation in the University which is not better than “a military garrison” where unchallenged and unfettered orders flow, and in this case, from the SIT.
“This is not the right way to administer a university in the 21st Century.
“Gentlemen of the Press, we will conclude this press conference by sounding it loud and clear that enough is enough of all these aberrations that have become the daily experience of our members in the University”, Onogbosele alleged.