… The council members were not even supposed to wait for the governor. Once it was four years, they ought to have left. But it’s a shame that neither the Governor nor the members care about the university …
By TheInvestigator
A cold war is brewing in the University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) over the rumoured election of new internal members representing different interests in the governing council of the institution. The crisis started with calls by the University’s alumni association for the reconstitution of the governing council, insisting that the tenure of the current council had long expired.
According to the law establishing the institution, governing council members are to serve a four-year term. However, the current council constituted about six years ago, has remained in office as Governor Bassey Otu continues to neglect calls to constitute a new council. This has allowed internal members elected in 2019 to remain in office for over a year after the expiration of their tenures.
Concerned by the development, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNICROSS chapter, resolved during a recent congress to notify relevant authorities about the expiration of the tenure of members representing the congregation in the council. They called for a fresh election in line with the law.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the ASUU has made the right call for the election of new internal members, but there has been pushback from those benefiting from this illegality, insisting they must remain in office until the Governor reconstitutes the council.
“The current governing council has overstayed. It has never happened before in the history of the university or anywhere in Nigeria that a council with a tenure limit of four years will remain in office for close to six years without a formal extension of tenure. The council members were not even supposed to wait for the governor. Once it was four years, they ought to have left. But it’s a shame that neither the Governor nor the members care about the university,” he said.
He added that the new UNICROSS law provides for non-teaching staff to have one member, while ASUU has one to represent the congregation in council since all members representing the Senate are academic staff. However, some people are planning to scuttle the planned election because they do not want non-teaching staff to have representation in the council.
The UNICROSS staff warned that if the attempt to scuttle the proposed election succeeds, the non-teaching staff are willing to embark on an industrial action.
“The whole blame has to go to the governor. I saw in the news that he signed a law establishing a new university and a college of agriculture recently, but how does a government that cannot constitute a governing council for its only university be opening new ones? Governor Otu needs to save the university and his government from this embarrassment,” he added.