The Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma in Edo State chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday denied allegations that they were graduating students who were based outside Nigeria even as it took a swipe on the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration which it said was running the university against standard ways of running a university.
Addressing a press conference in Benin City, the chairman of the Union, Dr. Cyril Onogbosele said the management of the university in connivance with the Special Intervention Team (SIT) set up by the state governor have been making unproven allegations against its members including alleged tax evasion, certificate and academic transcript racketeering while not meeting most of its obligations like deductions for the state health insurance without following the Act, non-payment of salaries of some staff, non-remittance of deducted ASUU check-off dues, poor funding of the university among others.
He said the SIT accused them of graduating about 30 students abroad, “Does graduation of students in a university start and end with “marking of scripts”, ASUU considers this allegation of academic fraud as an illusion and demands publication of the names, courses, departments, years of graduation of the students in question as well as details of the lecturers involved in the alleged academic fraud.”
On allegation by the SIT that it uncovered a series of tax evasion by staff amounting to over N2b “If the claim is true one would have thought that the names of staff defaulting in payment of tax would have been published and the offenders prosecuted and punished.”
He accused the management and SIT of making staff of the university not access their place of work except they pay a fee before they can drive into the school premises to access their offices.
As a way out, he called on Governor Obaseki to implement the decisions reached at a stakeholders meeting on the way forward for the university held on March 16th this year.
The management of the university is yet to respond to the issues raised as the Head, Corporate Communications of the University, Otunba Mike Aladenika was yet to respond to enquiries as at the time of filing this report.