How Ajuru’s VC is turning his anger on the press

How Ajuru’s VC is turning his anger on the press

By PHC Telegraph

The embattled Vice Chancellor of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education is allegedly turning his frustration, over Government’s prompt cancellation of a lopsided employment exercise on a section of the press.

According to information that is reaching our news desk,  the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Okechukwu Onuchukwu appears to think that the Nigerian press is responsible for what is transpiring.

Recall that the Rivers State Government last week ordered the cancellation of a recent recruitment exercise conducted by the University.

We have learnt that the Vice Chancellor allegedly despatched a number of phone messages accusing some journalists of working against him.

The Telegraph has cited one message that he sent to an investigative journalist. In it, the VC claimed the journalist was fighting him.

The journalist early in January had done a report which exposed what was going on in Onuchukwu’s institution.

Strangely, journalists are not the only ones who had foreknowledge of what was actually going on within Ajuru University of Education.

Staff and students who became sources of credible  information were acutely aware of the VC’s desire to trample underfoot, age-long traditions that are widely respected within the school community.

Part time staff hired by the former VC of the school Professor Mekuri Ndimele who was drafted from the University of Port Harcourt to stabilise the institution were fired as soon as his successor came on board.

No reason was however given publicly for the action which took members of the Ajuru University community by complete surprise.

The choice of departmental heads charged with the responsibility of assisting in the management of academic matters, the Telegraph has learnt, were reportedly made in some cases outside what many Liberal minds in the university see as standard academic practice which places emphasis on proficiency, efficiency and exposure.

Ethnocentric considerations, some insiders further disclosed, have equally influenced the way non academic staff have been selected in an institution funded by Rivers money.

While events were rapidly unfolding and Rivers people who have kept a close watch of the situation were getting increasingly restive, Government was similarly picking up hints from the ground.

Those hints indicated that Professor Onuchukwu was not following laid down rules and procedures.

Corrupt practices were similarly becoming the order of the day, insiders in the university claim.

Some of those who had a chat with this publication disclosed that under the VC standards and discipline have nose-dived.

“With no clear attempt to ensure discipline, many close to the Vice Chancellor began to act anyhow they pleased”, a non academic staff alleged.

“This is what you get when you surround yourself with mediocres. Mediocrity has destroyed most of the values which we hold dear in this university “, a Senior lecturer who pleaded anonymity remarked.

The Telegraph has learnt through impeccable sources that a lecturer accused of allegedly engaging in forgery just to gain promotion has been in the eye of the storm.

“It took a lot of pressure to get the authorities to set up a panel. Now we hear that everything is being done to give him a soft landing”, the lecturer revealed.

Our sources say that after government became fully briefed of the situation, the State Commissioner for Education, Professor Prince Chinedu Mmom acted.

He summarily cancelled letters of appointment issued to new staff of the institution by Professor Onuchukwu and his cohorts who were no longer taking advice.

“The Government of Rivers State”, Mmom noted, “has observed with dismay the inconsistencies/ irregularities and flagrant disobedience to the directives concerning the just concluded recruitment exercise at the  Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt.”

The statement further said,  “the recent employment exercise conducted by the management of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt is hereby cancelled.

The Commissioner declared, “All appointment letters issued and received are hereby nullified.”

“The affected  persons are directed to return the letters (of appointment) to the office of the Registrar of the Institution”, the Education Commissioner declared.

He also ordered that “other employment related properties such as ID Cards in their possession” should be submitted “to the office of the Head of Service, Rivers State immediately.”

Mmom added, “A proper and credible recruitment exercise shall be conducted in due course.”

There are indications that Rivers people, especially competent and qualified persons who want to work at the University are heaving sighs of relief.

“How can we be sidelined because we are not from the same birthplace of the Vice Chancellor”, a job seeker who did not what his name on print queried.

Onuchukwu’s intransigence quoted in the government statement and his purported resolve as an administrator  to turn the staff recruitment exercise into a lopsided affair has finally put him on the spot.

Many are wondering why the Visitor to the institution has not ordered his removal from office.

A journalist who spoke to this medium stated, “I don’t know why they are keeping him there. He ought to be fired.”