The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared September 10 as Victim Teachers Day to stand in solidarity with its members who are being persecuted in Nigerian public universities.
ASUU National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made the statement on Wednesday at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, during a press conference on the outcome of the union's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
The NEC meeting was held between August 17 and 18 at the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State.
According to Mr Osodeke, several lecturers in various Nigerian universities “are being subjected to acts such as illegal termination of contracts, withholding of salaries and denial of promotions.”
He listed Kogi State University (KSU), Anyingba, Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki, Lagos State Universities (LASU), Ojoo, Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam and others as institutions where lecturers are being victimized.
Cases listed in some universities
Mr Osodeke noted that the union is particularly concerned about the travesty of justice in the sentencing of its members at Kogi State University, Anyigba, after seven years of waiting.
He added that the union is also concerned about the long period of court proceedings involving its member who was illegally dismissed from the Lagos State University for over five years.
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He expressed the union’s disappointment over the refusal of the Lagos State Government to publish the White Paper on the LASU Visiting Panel more than two years after the exercise.
He said: “The apparent conspiracy of silence on this matter is unbecoming of a democratically elected government. Undoubtedly, the undue prolongation of court proceedings in matters of life and livelihood has created untold hardship for our affected members. It is a typical example of justice delayed becoming justice denied.
“We therefore call on Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to fulfil his promise to do the right thing at LASU and ensure the return of our unjustly dismissed colleagues.”
Speaking on the case at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, he further expressed displeasure over the continued victimisation of his members in the institution for refusing to grant a professorship to the former Minister of Communications and Digital Technology, Isa Pantami.
He also expressed displeasure with developments at the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), whose authorities, he alleged, are buying time by appealing instead of implementing a court ruling and reinstating his sacked colleague.
“While appreciating the intervention efforts of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ebonyi, NEC calls on visitors to Ebonyi State University and other state universities where ASUU members are being persecuted to take decisive steps to resolve all outstanding issues and give their universities a new lease of life,” he said.
The union therefore urged the Governing Councils and Visitors of state universities to take “special interest in the application of the laws that govern their respective institutions and to ensure that the tyrannical tendencies of certain vice-chancellors are curbed.”
PREMIUM TIMES has reported extensively on the prolonged victimisation of a 73-year-old Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Inih Ebong, at the University of Uyo, who was illegally dismissed in 2002.
The reports added that despite winning several court cases, including a National Industrial Court ruling ordering his reinstatement and compensation, the university refused to comply with Mr Ebong's mandate.
The associate professor's ordeal began when he was falsely accused of abandoning his duties while on an approved annual leave. The university suspended him indefinitely, suspended his salary and eventually terminated his employment.
Another case is that of Adenike Ogunshe, a senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan, whose appointment was terminated seven years ago, Oyo Affairs reported. She also obtained a court ruling reinstating her, but was not reinstated.