NOUN VC Faults Claim Of Students Unionism

THE Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe has distanced himself from the purported claim by one Mr. Hamza Oyebanji and his group that have been parading themselves as representatives of the school, saying that Student Unionism is outlawed in the institution.

Tenebe, who spoke to journalists in his office on Thursday, told the Guardian that the school has never operated any students union or staff union, saying the act is against the rules and regulation that guides the operation of the school since its establishment.

“NOUN has heterogeneous students that spread across the 36 states of the federation with many campuses all over the 774 local councils in the country and has never operated any student unionism or staff union. Some of our staff are on contract from other institutions and they are scattered abroad. So it is very difficult to operate student unionism or staff unionism.”

Tenebe’s position came to fore following claims by some students that they are representatives of the student union on the pages of national dailies and on social media.

Oyebanji and seven others have been parading themselves as representatives of NOUN students. They have made publications on social media and pages of national dailies, that they gave ultimatum to the school management to reinstate unionism.