The University of Abuja alumni association, United States branch, has urged lecturers in Nigerian Universities to seek alternative means of survival to augment with their lean resources.
The association also offered cash palliatives of N50,000 each to 54 lecturers of the institution.
Among the 54 beneficiaries were four families who were abducted by bandits during the latter invasion of the institution’s staff quarters last year.
A member of the alumni association, Barr. Tracy Kanu-Ejim, while handing over the money to the lecturers on Tuesday in Abuja, said the gesture was meant to cushion the effect of the non-payment of the lecturers’ eight months’ backlog after the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The Federal Government had implemented the ‘No work, no pay’ policy against lecturers who down tools in February but returned to work in October.
Kanu-Ejim appealed to all parties involved, especially the government to find more amicable ways in resolving disagreements without disrupting the educational stability and development of the country.
According to her, the government should develop both the political and economic will as well as adhering to good governance principles in addressing such conditions that reproduce industrial disputes.
While urging the government to also honour agreements reached in the past, Kanu-Ejim called on Nigerian academia to explore alternative means of generating resources to augment the lean resources from public funding.
She said, “They could engage in robust research of international value and partner with universities abroad to court interest and attract foreign direct investment to our citadels of learning and economy at large.
“Last May when the Vice-chancellor visited us in New York, we had a fruitful meeting where we discussed at length how Love and Light as an alumni association could assist our alma mater. Right there, we prioritized several projects that will meet the IT, healthcare, and security needs of the university, and we plan to come up with the funding to implement one or two in the nearest future.
“Meanwhile, our group on its own initiated this gesture as a token to help cushion the effects of living without pay and as our special way of answering the VC’s clarion call.
“We are glad for the opportunity to do something directly before the year runs out, but we are planning for something bigger in 2023. In fact, Love and Light has decided to make it an annual event, which will include many more lecturers.
“The process that produced the current beneficiaries was a very transparent one. When we requested and got the list of about 600 names of lecturers, we conducted a zoom meeting where the spinning wheel was utilized to randomly select a winner on a faculty by faculty basis. The winners were collated and certified and their names were promptly transmitted to the office of Alumni Relations.”
She said barely two years of existence of the association, over $50,000 have been used to support its members during life’s events
Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Prof. Joseph Obansa, thanked the association for the support.
Obansa, who was among the abducted victims, narrated how the kidnappers almost killed them after some of them were arrested by security agencies.
He said: “The day before the incident, we had a seminar presentation by students and I just finished reading some of the materials and was about to go to bed.
“But I started gunshots outside then my niece staying with me told me that they have been told that anytime we hear a gunshot, it could be security men firing those gunshots, So I was relaxed until I started hearing the sound closer.
“And then at a point, I started seeing a torch light around my house. They were going out to see where it could be easier for them to gain entry into my house but they found it necessary to enter through the window of my bedroom.”
According to him, the gunmen abducted him and his son even after collecting all the money they had.
He added that they were released after spending about four days in the bush.
“They told us that they have arrested their leader and some of their colleagues and that unless they release their members, they will kill us . So we begged them to allow us to call our VC so he can appeal to the police to release their members…So we were able to reach their leader who was arrested and he spoke to them to let us go and we were released.”
