By Greg Betiang and Albert Okon
There are indications that the Cross River State College of
Education, Akamkpa, may come under ‘fire’, for perceived management attachment
to Non payment of staffs salary nepotism, insensitivity to the deplorable
state of infrastructure in the institution and the lack of water and light in
COE.
Therefore the staffs of the Institute has embark on Strike which started on Friday 23rd February,2018 over the Non payment of 7 years areas to Older Staff and Non payment of 7 months salary to old staff, and this has affect the academic calendar of the school as well affecting the student cademics.
Additionally,
the acting provost of the institution, Patrick Obere Abiam, whose tenure as provost
is said to have long expired, has remained in acting capacity for more than a
year and a half, in breach of clearly documented regulations on how long the
institution’s provost can remain in office.
Castro Ezama, one of the lecturers who recently left the
institution voluntarily, in circumstances not unconnected with the allegations,
sounded the ‘fire’ alarm this morning on Calabar based Hit 95.9 FM, when he
appeared as guest on “The Public View”, the early morning news and current
affairs programme on the station.
Ezama further disclosed that, ” l had to leave the institution
because some of us discovered that when vacancies in the institution are declared,
most of those hired are hired not because they are competent but because they
have godfathers. You can imagine a situation where someone who applies to
lecture in the institution with a Master’s degree is overlooked while the
person with a third class degree, gets the job; should it be so? Shouldn’t the
institution be hiring the best hands so that it can proudly take her pride of
place among colleges of education in Nigeria?”
Callers on the programme clearly took sides with Ezama and
complained that electricity generation in the institution is an uphill task for
the school administrators, just like water has become such a scarce commodity.
“When the former provost was here, he made sure these things were properly in
place, but since the acting provost took over as substantive provost, nothing
seems to be working”, one anonymous student of the institution called in to
say.
The feeling of despair may be behind the peaceful demonstration
we hear will be staged to ‘fire’ the institution’s governing council chairman,
Steve Adah, into ensuring that Staff
salaries are paid and Abiam is replaced
and a substantive provost appointed.
College sources close to Abiam however maintained to
www.calitown.com and Nigeriapen.com that, Ezama’s allegations are not
completely true and that at no time did the provost single handedly conduct
employment into the institution. “Those who are outside the institution and
want to stage a peaceful demonstration in the institution, must understand that
they are security implications and they will be held accountable if there is a
resultant breakdown of law and order”, one source added. Abiam’s phone line was
unavailable at press time for comments.
