Lecturers at the College of Education, Akwanga, Nasarawa State have called on the Nasarawa State Government to take urgent steps toward reviewing the recent employment of academic staff in the institution to restore the academic standards of the school.
The Chairman Committee of Deans of various schools and Divisions of the college, Dr Aminu Dodo, made the call during an extraordinary meeting in Akwanga.
The extraordinary meeting was made up of the Governing Council and management staff, Deans and Heads of Departments as well as the leaders of the Joint Unions of the college to brainstorm on ways to addressing staff welfare challenges and the declining academic standards of the institution in the last four years.
Dr Dodo explained that since the last four years, academic performance had begun to decline as a result of what he described as external interference.
“The recent employment of lecturers in the college did not follow the need assessment. Various departments were not consulted to know the areas of need.
“For instance, we grouped the new lecturers in twos and threes and gave them tasks, but most of them were redundant. Some cannot deliver. This is a major setback to the college,” he said.
Dodo stressed the need for the state government to prioritize due process in making decisions for the college devoid of sentiments , especially the employment of academic staff.
The outgoing Chairman Governing Council of the college Mr. Ishaya Awotu, pointed out that there was the need for more commitment to entrench accountability, and judicious utilization of resources to enhance the academic excellence of the school.
“There were three white papers that were not implemented at the time we assumed office as the Governing Council of the college. We discovered that over N700 million was unaccounted for, Awotu pointed out.”
The Provost of the College, Dr Jonathan Thani, remarked that given the critical role of teacher education in the development of the state, more attention would be given to infrastructural development, security and provision of learning materials to achieve optimum results.
