stakeholders advocate cordial relationships among staff and students to promote excellence in university community

Stakeholders in the education sector have called for increased mutual-benefiting official relationships among staff and students in order to
promote a culture of academic excellence and social reengineering in the university system.
They made the call recently at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, during a seminar organized by the Guidance and Counselling Unit of the institution to propagate the essentials and opportunities inherent in sustaining mutual relationships between staff and students in a university community.
Declaring the seminar open, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba appealed to participants to utilize the opportunities in their places of work to increase their personal inter-relationships. He noted that it was a good thing to raise modern homes for new generation, which according to him explains the philosophy of ‘’the power of personal example.’’



He also noted that in the university, staff are the ‘in-loco parentis’ of the students, adding that students were also being encouraged to be open-minded in the pursuit of their academic activities, without any fear of molestation or intimidation. He maintained that this has started yielding dividends as the university turns-out employable and self-reliant graduates with high self-esteem and self-confidence.

While presenting his keynote address, the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, charged staff to be dedicated in their work in order to increase organizational productivity. He reiterated the need to do the basics and avoid counter-productive engagements that could jeopardize the work environment. He noted that lack of good relationships among staff and students could result to social vices such as civil unrest, violent protest and unbridled cult cases and to a larger extent, breeds examination malpractices.



The Executive Secretary who was represented by the Director of Administration in the Commission, Bar. Victor Onuoha enthused that academic activities require peaceful environment for maximum productivity, adding that the school system was a mirror that represents the larger society. He opined that sustaining cordial relationship in the university community presupposes that both staff and students were engaged in official mutual-benefiting interactions. He therefore urged the university staff to be role models for students while the students should be governed by the university laws.
‘’A hard working employee makes the best use of time, avoids opportunistic tendencies and constantly seek to improve his job performance’’, he said, concluding that there should be visible hard work, dedication and absolute transparency in a work place.
Speaking earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Prof. Florence Otta, underscored the three broad categories of counselling: the educational need, the vocational need and the personal/social area, which the seminar captured and sought to explore its unique usefulness.

She maintained that sustaining relationships among staff and students could bring about formidable unity in the university system, admonishing staff not to neglect their home fronts as it could also enhance or negate their productivity in the work place.
The event was also witnessed by the National President, Counselling Association of Nigeria, Professor E. O. Egbochukwu, who spoke on “Sustaining Marriages in the University Community”. Represented by the National Assistant Secretary of the association, Dr. Vera Nwadinobi, she advised staff to tread with caution in managing their matrimonial and official job duties, urging participants, especially students to shun unlawful co-habitations and embrace legally and socially acceptable marriage contracts.
She maintained that career, marriage and family were the triangular forces that hold the society and should be adequately protected. She admonished couples working in the same university to see it as a rare privilege that should not be abused. And to maintain good working relationship among themselves, she enjoined them to eschew gossips, hearsay and rumours but rather ensure proper communication.