Re: Uniabuja recruits 200 without due process

Your news reports on the University of Abuja of Friday, April 8, 2016 at page 4 contained some unsubstantiated allegations and claims which the University would like to respond to. In the said publication which was based on the newspaper’s own sources, you said among other things that the University’s Centre for Distance Learning was […]

Your news reports on the University of Abuja of Friday, April 8, 2016 at page 4 contained some unsubstantiated allegations and claims which the University would like to respond to.
In the said publication which was based on the newspaper’s own sources, you said among other things that the University’s Centre for Distance Learning was being probed by the University Management for alleged mismanagement and diversion of funds, and that the University had gone on a recruitment spree as a result of which it could not meet its salary obligations to workers.
Yes, it is true that the University Management had constituted a Committee on the Centre but it was to look into ways of boosting its capacity for service delivery not a probe of financial impropriety.  The decision followed complaints received from students and other stakeholders especially over the management of students results which often led to unnecessary delays. Of course, in the course of the Committee’s work, all aspects of the Centre’s operations will also be looked into including staffing and finances with the overall objective of overhauling it for efficiency.
It is rather strange to claim that the University remits to the Single Treasury Account (TSA) only 30 per cent of money paid by its students” as the ₦20,000 charged for change of courses.  By now, most people are familiar with the payments to the TSA.  At the University of Abuja there are two ways of making payment to the TSA – through the Remitta Platform at any commercial bank, or through the University website using the ATM card, or direct transfer (e-banking). 
None of these means of payment involved the handling of raw cash nor do instructions and guidelines on such payments to students contain splitting the payments for lodgment into other account other than the TSA.  It is therefore surprising that such a wild and laughable allegation would be conveyed to the public moreso that your sources have remained unanimous.
The claim by your sources that justice would not be done or even that the committee was incapable of handling the matter is spurious.  An allegation of wrong doing against an official of the University’s Transport Unit, no doubt by this same shadowy sources was investigated by the Council of the University which found no substance in the allegation.  Trying to link the outcome of the present effort to reposition the Centre for Distance Learning with the Council report amounts to sheer desperation.
There is probably nowhere in the news reports on the University that the Daily Trust sources demonstrated utter disregard for even a modicum of decency than in the claim that the University had recruited more than 200 “non-essential staff” which accordingly shot up the salary bill, which in turn negatively affected the payment of salaries and other entitlements of University workers”.  For the record, employments into the service of the University up to December last year stood at 52.   Candidates for the recruitments were mainly drawn from a previous advertisement placed by the previous administration, and the regularization of those staff earlier employed on temporary appointments to meet certain urgent needs.  All the appointments were geared towards meeting deficiencies in the various academic and other Units as recommended by visiting accreditation teams to the University.  The staff recruitments were as usual with the knowledge of the relevant authorities.  It is quite baffling to refer to such category critical staff as non-essential.
The issue of shortfall in salaries which the University has experienced since the beginning of this year had been subject of discussion between the University Management and the staff unions.  The way out of the problem had at the meetings been proffered which included the suspension of earned allowances such as overtime, professional allowances and etc. until the financial position of the University improved.  It is to the credit of the administration that promotion arrears which had accumulated for years even before the inception of the present administration had in the course of a piece-meal settlement arrangement been reduced substantially despite the financial constraints. The University Management has reiterated that legitimate claims of staff would be paid once the institution’s revenue improved. 
Waziri Garba, Deputy Registrar (Information), University of Abuja.