MOUAU: We never sacked 440 staff but suspended them

The management of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State has said that it did not sack 440 staff but rather suspended them as their contract has elapsed as temporary staffers.

A break-down of the figure of the suspended staff shows that 100 are from the Academic, 263 senior technical and Administrative staff while77 are said to be junior staff.

In a press statement signed by Adanma Odefa, head, Public Relations/Protocol unit of the institution said that everybody employed in a University is hired on temporary basis and has to be regularised within a year to become full staff, failure of which leads to the elapsing of the contract.

“Vice Chancellor Francis Otunta’s predecessor, Prof. Hilary Edeoga, between November 2015 and February 2016, hired over 400 people even though there was already a Vice Chancellor designate for the University and also knowing full well there was no fund to pay them. Prof Odeoga didn’t care because these workers were never going to be his problem,” the statement read in part.

It said that if the University had the need for that number of staff, it would have advertised it after the Council’s approval.

The statement further said that the incumbent Vice Chancellor for over six months after the expiration of the contract had to cut 25 percent of the University staff to pay the temporary workers, adding that ordinarily, the over 400 people were not entitled to salaries.

It also dispelled rumours making the rounds that he had hired about 100 people, describing such insinuations as totally unfounded and aimed at whipping up sentiments against the Vice chancellor.