By Usman Aliyu
The Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Alumni Association, Edo, has expressed its displeasure over the plan by the State Government to convert the institution to multi-campus.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Gov. Godwin Obaseki had at a town hall meeting in February announced the plan to move its two faculties, Engineering and Agriculture, to Oredo and Owan West Local Government Areas, respectively.
But the association in a statement signed by its President, Mr Dave Emakunu, and the General Secretary, Mr Johnson Akpolome, appealed to the governor, who doubles as the Visitor to the university, to shelve the idea.
The alumni also demanded the dissolution of the Special Intervention team and immediate constitution of a governing council to manage the institution.
According to the statement, a copy of which was made available to NAN in Benin, the constitution of a Special Intervention Team (SIT) for the Edo state owned university, in place of Governing Council is an aberration, that deserves immediate dissolution.
It asserted that splitting the university into multi-campuses would result to insurmountable challenges, which would arise from implementation of the plan.
This, the union said, would bring untold hardship on the students in terms of logistics.
It noted that the university, as a single campus, was grossly underfunded, with staff salaries owed running into several months.
“The failure to adequately fund the institution has led to industrial crisis and paralysis of academic activities,” the statement said.
It also lamented a situation where all the principal officers of the university were appointed in acting capacity.
“Most worrisome is that the signatures of the Acting Vice-Chancellor and Registrar on the certificates of graduates continuously change because the appointments of these officers are not tenured.
“This is capable of affecting the credibility of the certificates issued by the university.
“What the state government need to do at this crucial time is to ensure that the university is adequately funded to allow for staff salaries to be paid as at when due.
“As well as build adequate infrastructure to cater for the growing population of staff and students of the institution rather than proposing a multi-campus system which will further overwhelm the financial capability of the state,” the statement read in part. (NAN)
