We want justice for our UNIMAID members killed by Boko Haram —Sani Suleiman, NAAT President

Comrade Sani Suleiman is the president of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT). He was at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, in the aftermath of the recent killing, allegedly by Boko Haram insurgents, of some staff of the institution that were on a national assignment to the Lake Chad Basin. He speaks with BODUNRIN KAYODE on the steps the association is taking to get justice for the slain and compensation for their families, among other issues.

We are actually here to condole our people and the management of the University of Maiduguri. However, we had to come now because we feel it is not too late to come, regardless of our busy schedule, given the challenges we faced in putting up with the national strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). You can see we have just seen the acting Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Aliyu Shugaba and we are going out now to see the survivors of the unfortunate attack on our members, as well as families of our late members.

We actually lost about four of our members; three have already been confirmed dead and the fourth one, Comrade Kolo, is nowhere to be found. He is said to be missing; we can’t state if he is dead or alive. We, however, pray that God will continue to protect and provide for the families of the dead ones, even as we pray that our missing Comrade Kolo is still found alive. From the briefing I have received from my members, I learnt that, in the process of trying to escape, he must have taken another route and he has not been found till this day. And since he was not among those paraded by the insurgent Boko Haram on the social media, he is still missing, because there is no evidence that he is in the hand of the insurgents yet.

Knowing that they were on a national assignment in the Lake Chad Basin, what efforts have you made to persuade the Federal Government to join in the search for your missing member and find him, either dead or alive?

Indeed, we are aware they were on a national assignment, for the good of the entire country. We do know that our kind of job is hazardous. Therefore, whenever such a tragedy occurs, it is expected that the families will be compensated for the loss in anyway. If they were alive today, they were supposed to enjoy some benefits for daring to venture into such a risky assignment piloted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); how much more now that they have paid the supreme price. We do hope and pray that the management of the institution, in conjunction with the Federal Government, will take reasonable actions to compensate the families of the deceased and the survivors for this tragedy of the loss of their loved ones. This will help them to move on and get back to their normal lives by reducing some of their pains in terms of burdens.

What has your association been able to do to support the widows of the victims and the other survivors?

Indeed we have a token of N100, 000 to give each of the widows and the families of the dead. We know it is not much, but we believe it will go a long way to address some of the immediate problems which the bread-winners would have solved if they were alive. We also brought bags of grains, especially rice, for the state council of our association to distribute among the survivors. It is a token from the entire national executive of our union, NAAT.

What is your advice to the university management on the vexed issue of security which is brewing strike action, if not nipped in the bud?

My brother, I know that security is directly from God; the only thing we members can do is to pray. We cannot say, because of what is going on in the North East, we will not do our jobs. The onus is however on management of the University of Maiduguri to ensure the protection of any member of staff who is going out of or coming into the community. The management must ensure that they all come back alive by providing adequate security for them. As for the strike action, I think the Borno State government has started building the fence from one axis, while the Federal Government has promised to continue from wherever the state government stops. However, we, as a union, shall be observing developments as they evolve so as to know how to haggle with the concerned authorities over this very important aspect.

Comrade President, out of all the demands NAAT is making at the national level, which ones are you very personate about and which you cannot compromise for any reason whatsoever?

Our main concern today is corruption; it is our number one problem with the university system. Some university vice chancellors are having a field day in terms of mismanagement, without anybody overseeing and checkmating them. But we are insisting that they must be checked; the university vice chancellors must not be allowed to go scot-free without transparency checks.

When these checks are conducted, whoever is found guilty of embezzling the resources belonging to the university must face justice. However, we are happy because two vice chancellors are facing the law courts now and we do hope that justice will take some allegations in course.

Why are you laying much emphasis on the fight against corruption in the higher institutions of learning?

We are seriously against corruption within our universities because it is causing a lot of damages; that is why we find ourselves where we are today. This is because the little resources expected to develop the universities and, in turn, improve our academics are being diverted and ferried away. That is also the reason why we are insisting that all the visitation panel’s reports be submitted to the government who should, in turn, revisit them and any vice chancellor found wanting, contrary to the statutes of the land, must be sanctioned.

This is also our stand on the issue of the internally generated revenue (IGR) in the university system. The IGR must be judiciously used. The time has passed where a vice chancellor had field days over the expenditures of IGR. Most of the wrong doings in the university management boils down to funds and this is often done in conjunction with the bursar of the affected institution. I tell, you we will no longer condone this and we will continue to insist that people found wanting within the entire university community should not escape the wrath of the law.

These are the reasons why we are going to insist on integrity tests before anybody is allowed to become a vice chancellor. We want that implemented down the line for any aspirant for that office. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must clear any aspirant and state how clean or otherwise the person is before going through the internal democratic processes to get the job. The vice chancellor must equally be made to go through a normal orientation in financial process in terms of book-keeping so that they are not easily induced. The bursar must equally be made to go through the same financial courses of orientation like that of the vice chancellor. It is when the vice chancellors are not vast in accounting procedures that the bursars use them anyhow. The commission should insist on all these new processes if they want the best in terms of transparency. If the vice chancellors and bursars know about financial prudency, they will not allow themselves to be used.

What is your take on the cut-off marks recently introduced by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)?

Let me also use this opportunity to say that NAAT is not very happy about the latest cut-off marks which is being brandished around this year by JAMB. It is very unfortunate that they decided to descend to such a low level this year. Even at 180 and 200, the standards are not very good and you want to bring it down to 120. That is ridiculous. What are we turning our universities to? We are saying no to this and we declare that it must be reviewed upwards, either by JAMB or the individual university. However, full details of this position would be placed in the public space after our next National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, coming up in Lagos very soon.