- Spokesperson Says VC’s Tenure Outstanding
THE UNIVERSITY of Abuja (UNIABUJA) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday celebrated the exit of Prof Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah as the institution’s vice chancellor following the end of his tenure On June 30 2024.
Speaking at the end of its congress on Tuesday, the chairperson of UNIABUJA ASUU branch, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, said it would continue to celebrate the exit of the vice chancellor, alleging that he destroyed the university in the five years of his tenure.
Dr Ugoh said with Na’Allah’s exit, the union was ready to engage with the new management of the University, led by Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi, to resolve the ongoing strike in the university.
“We are just celebrating the exit of the vice chancellor that destroyed this university in the last five years. It is a case of desecrating chambers of the Ivory towers.
“In the last five years, University of Abuja experienced onslaught of academic activities. It was really a setback but the good news is that the tenure has ended and so what we are celebrating is to tell the world that we regret having him as the vice chancellor.
“Before he came to this university, University of Abuja was in the ninth position but today university of Abuja is in the 27th position, it was a total failure,” he said.
ASUU had on May 2, 2024, embarked on indefinite strike in protest against issues such as violation of its established laws, including appointments and promotions of members of staff in the absence of a governing council, amongst others.
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On the issue of strike, Dr Ugoh said: “We didn’t strike because of the vice chancellor, the strike was led by the five issues that were illegalities. So, as soon as these illegalities are corrected, we will suspend the strike.
“The person overseeing the office of the vice chancellor, Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi, has been part of the player. She knows all the issues so the union is waiting for any day we are invited to interface with the university.
“The issues in contention are issues that could be handled in one day for any person that is willing to solve them. So, I don’t think they are issues that ordinarily could have lasted for more than two weeks.
“But right now, the strike is in and we are still on our comprehensive, total and indefinite strike,” the ASUU chairman stated, noting that another issue discussed in the congress was to mobilise the branch for a national strike, pending a directive ASUU national secretariat.
Former chairperson of the branch, Dr Kassim Umar, who also spoke, urged the federal government to intervene and save UNIABUJA as he lamented the policies of the past leadership.
“It is our prayer for even our enemy to not witness what we have witnessed under Prof. Na’Allah because he is a kind of vice chancellor that knows it all and many times we have visited him, national had visited him, zonal visitation, everybody have visited him and at the end of the day he turned everything down. But it is our hope that the overseer of the university who is Prof Maikudi will reason with the needful so that peace will return to this place
“We are not fighting anybody. We want the system to be okay for Nigerians and for our children but it is quite unfortunate we have experienced this.
“We are calling all the relevant agencies from Presidency, Ministry of Education, NUC, well-wishers, traditional rulers and the religious to intervene and allow peace to reign in the University of Abuja,” Umar said.
But un his response to ASUU’s celebration, the university’s spokesperson, Dr Habib Yakoob, said the entire university community celebrated Prof. Na’Allah for his outstanding performance while he held sway in the university.
“Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah was well celebrated by the entire university community, at the tail end of his tenure. The community felt they would miss an era that saw the rapid development of the University in all facets of life.
“The acting vice chancellor of the university, Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi, was part of the administration of Na’Allah, being the deputy vice chancellor, academic.
“We hope that ASUU will give her the support that the university management had been asking from them for quite some time now,” Yakoob said.
