UNIPORT bans academic, official activities during sallah, public holidays — MURIC

The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has banned all academic and official activities during sallah and other festivals for which the Federal Government declares a holiday.

This is sequel to the objection raised by the organisation after the university organised a field trip for a course examination known as ‘Geological Mapping’ last Sunday, which coincides with this year’s eid al-Kabir.

The MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said this on Thursday night in a statement.

“The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has responded positively to the objection raised by our organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), against the field trip for a course examination known as ‘Geological Mapping’ (course code GLY 414.2) by banning all academic and official activities during Salah, other festivals and events for which the Federal Government (FG) declares a holiday.

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“MURIC has reliably confirmed that the authorities of UNIPORT have instructed all departments and faculties to adhere strictly to public holidays declared by FG and to ensure that no official university programme or activity is held around that period.

“Though belated, we regard this as the right step in the right direction. By taking this action, Uniport has admitted that it was wrong to have embarked on that field trip on Salah day (Sunday, 16th June, 2024), including the two days declared as public holidays by FG (Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th June, 2024,” Akintola said.

He said that the organisation will not ask for apologies, press charges or seek payment of damages in any form because Islam is a religion of forgiveness, tolerance and magnanimity.

He said, “We are not pursuing this campaign to massage our ego, rather we are compelled by a call to protect Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslims wherever they are infringed upon. We therefore assure the authorities of UNIPORT that we are not interested in vendetta as long as lessons are learnt and necessary boundaries are set.

“We have nothing to gain from any disciplinary action taken against anyone once those involved have shown remorse. It is also our hope that other state and federal tertiary institutions and agencies will borrow a leaf from this incident.”