DECEMBER 2, 2014 BY
STEPHEN UKA, UMUAHIA Leave a Comment The Vice-Chancellor of
Abia State University,
Professor Chibuzor
Ogbuagu, has stoutly
debunked the rumour
making the rounds that a certain
governorship aspirant
in the state paid one
month salary arrears
of staff of the
institution. Professor Ogbuagu
who made the denial
while fielding questions
from journalists during
a pre- convocation
press conference, said that there was no
iota of truth in the
speculation, and
enjoined members of
the public to disregard
it. He however, admitted
that one of the
aspirants, Dr. Uche
Ogah, had about three
years ago, approached
the management of the institution for a
parcel of land to build
an auditorium which
he had since donated
to the school. The VC said payment
of staff salary has
been from only two
sources – the state
government, and the
Internally Generated Revenue of the
university. He also denied
speculations that
lecturers and students
were deserting the
university in droves
due to poor working condition and high
school fees. Professor Ogbuagu
said that movement
of lecturers from the
university to other
institutions was
normal and not peculiar to ABSU. He said that it was
not strange to the
university system for
lecturers to move
from one school to
another, contending that himself had been
to seven different
universities as a
lecturer. His words: ” There is
no brain drain in ABSU;
what we have is
normal flow of
lecturers , and it
allows for solid cross fertilization of ideas”. The VC announced a
downward review of
tuition by 20 percent ,
saying that Medicine
and Surgery students
now pay N100,000 , while students of
professional courses ,
and normal courses
pay N90,000 and
N80,000 respectively. He said the reduction
in fee was in response
to appeals by
students , and to
make for competitive
fairness. The VC said
management of the
institution had zero
tolerance for cultism
and illegalities,
disclosing that over seven lecturers
including a Reverend
Father had been
dismissed due to some
unwholesome acts. On the proposed
relocation of the Law
faculty of the
university to Umuahia,
the VC said the policy
was in line with the laws establishing the
institution which made
it ” a three- campus
institution with
branches in Aba and
Umuahia, while Uturu is the main campus”. He commended the
state government for
defraying the salary
arrears of staff, as
well as federal
government for its financial supports
through the Tertiary
Education Trust Fund.
source, punch

if he pay nko.