Staff, students demand Paul University, Awka closure over 28-month salary arrears

By Our Reporter

Staff and students of the Paul University, Awka have called on the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) to shut the institution down. In a protest during the inauguration ceremony for a Law Faculty building at the university campus on xxxxxxx, they alleged that the university had not lived up to its bidding and that the academic and non-academic staff members were owed salaries for 16, 25 and 28 months.

The protesting staff and students made this demand aware of the suspicious presence on their campus, of the Primate, Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, who was the special guest at the inauguration of the Law Faculty building of the university. The building is said to have been built and donated to the institution by the Archbishop of the Province of the Niger and Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Reverend Alexander Chibuzor Ibezim.

The choice of the occasion was likely linked to an earlier promise, to the embittered personnel of the university by the Primate, that he would look into the prolonged salary debacle, but which was yet to yield any results.

The university, said to belong to the 55 dioceses in the Niger Province, Anglican Communion, is said to owe 16, 25 and 28-month salary arrears, respectively to its regular, contract and adjunct staff members.

The protesting staff and students described their agony as “uncalled for, inhuman, and un-Christian,” saying that they were being “subjected to forced labour without pay, intimidation and the worst form of human degradation ever recorded in labour history.”

A protester, who did not want to be named, lamented that the huge salary arrears had reduced the entire staff to objects of caricature in the eyes of their immediate families, other relatives and friends; adding that the Board of trustees, the Governing Council and Management of the University rose from a joint meeting recently and, shockingly, vowed to terminate the appointment of any staff member who decided to go on strike as a result of the outstanding salaries. He described the management’s decision as “wickedness in high places and an act unbecoming of people who call themselves Christians.”

Other protesters who spoke to our correspondent admitted that the vice-chancellor, Professor (Ven) Obiora Nwosu, though new on seat as VC, had tried in some areas and that his efforts were so glaring that, but for the financial handicap, he wouldn’t have liked to owe salaries.
They, however, alleged that, despite the dire financial straits in the institution, Nwosu and other principal officers of the university had not shown enough empathy for the suffering workers going by alleged incidence of payment of out-of-pocket claims to themselves.
They assured that this claim could be verified by whoever cared by engaging external
auditors to look into the university’s books.

In the bid to get the university to act, the workers revealed that most of them had agreed that the ongoing examinations in the university would be stopped until salaries for, at least, 3 months were paid, lamenting that most of them could not pay their children’s school fees even as they are expected to be teaching other people’s children.

On their own part, many students of the institution have mooted the idea of abandoning their matriculation at Paul University to continue at the Peter University, Achina or any other alternative university, if nothing is done before long as they are tired of lecturers agonising over non-payment of salaries when they should be giving their best on their duties. Peter University, Achina is another faith-based university in Anambra state and belongs to the Catholic church.

Another protester thought it a shame that 55 Anglican Dioceses East of the Niger cannot run and maintain one university that is, indeed, a potent and veritable tool of evangelism for The Church.
He singled the VC out for criticism, saying he was in the habit of not addressing the staff in a diplomatic, Christian manner, adding that it was “unacceptable for him to insult and intimidate staff (both young and old) with little or no provocation,” and called on the owners, well-meaning Anglicans and Nigerians generally to come to the aid of Paul University before it is too late.

A source close to the vice-chancellor, said that the management should have leveraged on the Primate’s promise at the inauguration of the Law Faculty building to raise funds to clear the salary arrears, instead of finding faults with the staff who were only asking for their long-overdue salaries.

In her words, “the situation is pitiable, sorrowful, unholy, illegitimate and unacceptable. The owners, Board Of Trustees, Council, and well-meaning Anglicans and non-Anglican should come to the assistance of these suffering and starving staff who have put a lot into making the university to stand.”

She claimed that the university has, so far in 2022, paid only the salaries for January, February and March, querying: “Is it good? Is it biblical?”

The vice-chancellor , Prof. Obiorah Nwosu, who retired as librarian from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and, currently, a Venerable in the Anglican Communion, could not be reached for his reactions even as Ikechukwu Abana, the institution’s public relations officer, when contacted by our reporter, described the report as “a mere speculation” and declined to comment further on the matter.