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The Abia State College of Education (Technical), Arochukwu (ASCETA) will be thrown into unimaginable crisis if the purported sacking of the Chairman of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) in the College, Comrade Egesi Onyemaechi Kevin, is not immediately reversed.
The National leadership of COEASU, has accordingly called on the Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, to urgently intervene and call the Provost of the College, Dr Philips Nto, to order in ensuring immediate reinstatement of Kevin to forestall impending crisis.
COEASU in a statement by its General Secretary, Dr Ahmed Bazza Lawan, on Friday in Abuja, described the sacking of its branch chairman by the Provost of the College, Dr Philips Nto, as ludicrous and must be reversed to allow for industrial peace and stability in the College.
The appointment of the COEASU chairman of ASCETA, Comrade Kevin was said to be terminated by a letter dated 19th December 2022, with effect from 20th December 2022 and signed by the Provost, Dr Philips Nto, over claims of reorganisation of the College.
But COEASU scribe, Ahmed Lawan, in the statement condemned the termination of appointment of Kevin, saying the Provost’s decision to sack him is out of personal vendetta against the Union Chairman’s consistent and lawful call for the right thing to be done in the College.
“The only offence of our comrade Chairman is that he has been at the vanguard of representing the collective yearning of the academic staff Union within the College for good governance and fair treatment,” he said.
Lawan warned that if the demand for Kevin immediate reinstatement is not heeded the Union would not hesitate to press further with appropriate action as a national body.
The statement read in part: “We call on the Executive Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, to urgently call the Provost of ASCETA, Arochukwu to order and stop the reign of terror, vendetta and victimization being perpetuated under the guise of reorganization in the College.
“The Provost of the College, Dr. Philips Nto, has taken his impunity and oppressive dehumanization of the staff of the College to the most ludicrous level by issuing a sack letter to the Chairman of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) in the College, Comrade Egesi Onyemaechi Kevin, under the guise of reorganizing the College for efficiency.
“In this season of Christmas, when love is in the air as people are exchanging gifts and forgiving each other, the only thing the Provost could offer is to terminate the appointment of the innocent Union Chairman, who is the bread winner of his family, in flagrant disregard for statutes and every sense of decorum. Even the letter conveying the purported sack betrays the reckless impunity and malicious intent of the Provost as it was issued on 19th December and made effective the next day.
“If there is to be any positive reorganization and restoration of lawful order in the College, the Provost himself is supposed to be the first deserving victim as he lacks the requisite teaching qualifications to occupy that office.
“The Provost is neither a Chief Lecturer nor does he possess the equivalent rank that would have qualified him to be a Provost in a College of Education. He had never participated in teaching practice or any professional teaching activity and yet he is made to superintend over a teacher institution.
“His lack of basic teacher’s characteristics and qualities have made him run the College aground. Instead of him to admit his deficiencies and allow sound advice from professionals in the College to guide him, he has been using bully and intimidation of the staff to conceal his deficiencies, administrative failure and gross incompetence.
“Under his dreadful, horrific and rascally administration, the College has the worst welfare package and the lowest compliance with the Conditions of Service for staff among all the Colleges of Education in Nigeria as evidenced in the fact that staff members are owed twenty-seven (27) months salary and denied financial effects of promotion since year 2008.
“As if that is not enough, Management is withholding over forty (40) months unions check-off dues with the intention of stifling the unions in the College from carrying out their over-sight functions on the activities of the Provost.
“It is appalling that the provost just, as we publicly decried recently, is deducting 5-10% of the salary of every member of staff on a monthly basis under the guise of development while another 5% is deducted for grass-cutting. It is on record that the Provost recently warned the staff to remain silent against his impunity or lose their jobs.
“We have seen through the antics of the Provost to provoke public interest at the expense of accuracy by using the media to project the Union Chairman as being redundant.
“The question is, does the Provost have the power to approbate and reprobate concurrently on such an establishment matter relying on the unilateral processes of his own volition without recourse to the Governing Council, any government white paper and/or the conditions of service applicable to Colleges of Education in Nigeria?
“In the interest of lawful order and industrial peace, our Union is calling on the Abia State government to call the Provost to order and ask him to rescind the decision. It is our hope that this call would be heeded immediately as we shall not hesitate to press further with appropriate action as a national body”.
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