The Benin zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has ranked the Edo State-owned institution, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma (AAU), as the worst in terms of management in the global tertiary education landscape.
Briefing newsmen at the University of Benin, Ugbowo campus in Benin City, Zonal Coordinator, Benin Zone of ASUU, Prof. Monday Igbafen, said the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration had brought about the introduction of obnoxious policies that are antithetical to university culture.
“A classic example is Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma a state university in the Benin Zone of ASUU where there has not been a governing council for 3 years with a strange body supposedly playing the role of a governing council. At the last count, AAU, Ekpoma is the only university in the country without a Governing Council,” Igbafen said.
He said the absence of governing councils in the university has led to unthinkable aberrations in the institution.
Igbafen noted that AAU is the only university in the country without a governing council and with attendant assault on the institution’s autonomy.
Igbafen added that the union condemns, in strong terms, the intransigence of some state governments in failing to allow state universities to operate in accordance with the laws establishing them.
Igbafen accused the Federal and State Governments of bluntly refusing to address the problem of victimisation and persecution of its members at the Kogi State University (KSU), Anyingba; Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki; Lagos State University (LASU), Ojoo; Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma; Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam.
According to him, in these universities, while some of our members have been illegally sacked, others have had their salaries withheld for unjustifiable reasons.
