FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN
Management of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, has justified the several engagements of the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Edoba Omoregie (SAN), in Abuja.
A statement yesterday in Benin by the Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, explained that the vice-chancellor’s engagements both in Abuja and within the immediate host community of the university were the statutory obligations of vice chancellors of government-owned universities, just as they could also be prompted by invitation to meetings where important policy issues affecting universities are discussed and far reaching decisions taken.
Ehanire, who spoke in reaction against the backdrop of a write-up by Miracle Chukwudi on what she said was “spurious and unguided allegations” against the vice chancellor, noted that the school authorities viewed the said publication as most uncharitable to Professor Omoregie, who has worked very hard to ensure that the tertiary institution is uplifted from the morass it found itself for several years, having been relegated in the allocation of valuable infrastructure and other benefits from the federal government, among other institutional benefits.
She said such high level engagements by the vice-chancellor had clearly yielded numerous benefits to the school, which amongst others, include the on-going construction of a four-floor new Senate building and the employment of the first batch of over 500 new teaching and non-teaching staff after ten years of purported embargo on employment by the federal government.
Ehanire listed other benefits to include the attraction of several staff and institution grants from the World Bank and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TEFUND, among others, for academic and infrastructural development, such as the ongoing construction of new medical students hostel and new office buildings; and the opening up of Site B for massive development and completion of the ultra-modern Faculty of Veterinary edifice to be commissioned in a few weeks time.
“Management reiterates that these widely acknowledged achievements and more by the vice chancellor in one and a half years in office could not have been achieved without the amount of networking that he is engaged in,” Ehanire said.
The public relations officer stated that the management was relieved by the resignation of Venerable Egbenusi as Chairman of the CRC4 Committee, as he has not functioned effectively in that position.
While insisting that the remarks of Venerable Egbenusi in his letter of resignation was one done in bad faith, she accused the former committee chairman of adopting a belligerent disposition towards the authorities, following the decision for consumers of electricity on campus to pay amounts commensurate with their operations.
“Whereas other religious bodies on campus have since understood the situation and are cooperating with the university, the Venerable remains adamant, thus resulting in a series of friction with the university authorities,” she said.
