Varsity threatens legal action against absconding lecturers

Abak (Akwa Ibom) – The management of Akwa Ibom State University has threatened to initiate legal action against the families of some lecturers who refused to return to the institution after their post-graduate studies abroad.

Prof. Sunday Peters, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, issued the threat on Friday in Abak, while speaking on the Obio Okpa campus of the university.

He said that several of the lecturers, whose post-graduate studies were sponsored by the university, refused to return to Nigeria after completing the studies.

“Many have refused to come back after the training; some are coming back in batches.

“We shall, through the embassies of the countries, get them repatriated,’’ he vowed.

Although Peters did not disclose the number of the affected lecturers, he, nonetheless, said: “Six of them have returned and started work on both campuses of the university.’’

The vice-chancellor, however, said that the university had satisfied the rules of the National Universities Commission (NUC) regarding the requisite number of lecturers for each department.

“With the menace of Boko Harram in the northern part of Nigeria, we have a lot of southerners applying to come to our university.

“Nevertheless, staffing Akwa Ibom University is not a problem; there are enough lecturers for now. We also have adjunct lecturers and those on sabbatical leave,’’ Peters said. (NAN)