By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi
It is no longer news that the management of the University of Calabar has suspended the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Cyril Ndifon, over allegations of sexual harassment of female students.
Ndifon’s suspension, which took immediate effect, followed a probe into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by some female students of the faculty who were recently seen in a viral video storming the office of the school’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Florence Obi, wielding placards with inscriptions such as, “Ndifon must go for our sanity,” “We are tired of buying law journals,” “We are tired of lecturers not attending classes,” and “Law girls are not your bonanza’.
The suspension was reportedly conveyed via a letter by the school’s Registrar, Gabriel Egbe, and partly read, “Please refer to our letter Ref UC/REG/DISC.45A dated August 14, 2023, on your alleged violation of the provisions of the extant laws and policies of the university and your response to the said letter which was dated August 16, 2023. “The vice-chancellor has gone through your written representations and is not satisfied with your explanations.
Essentially, while the suspension is appreciated, this piece, on the other hand, believes that Unical is not alien to scandals. Profession Ndifon’s latest sex scandal is just an addition to the institution’s gale of bad press.
Recall that the erudite Professor of Law was suspended in 2015 over the same sexual harassment allegation. Commentators are never tired of harping on the university’s lurid downside, which has seemingly defied successive leaderships.
For example, reports have shown that Unical is not only reputed for poor relationships with students but equally allergic to the good image when it comes to dealings with its publics, including suppliers.
Notedly, while the dust raised by the Ndifongate (part two) appears to be settling, another tar on Unical’s linen has just reared its ugly head, prompting analysts to suggest that there is something deeply troubling with the school, albeit hidden.
In this light, the reported ordeal suffered in the hands of the successive University of Calabar leadership, from 2014 till date (9 years), by Isioma Aninyem, a Nigerian, trading under the name Michael Hull Services, an educational services company that is primarily involved in sourcing and supplying of educational materials, particularly journals, to educational institutions, readily comes to mind.
Giving details of what he termed ‘’using trickery and deception to obtain sets of academic/research journals to the tune of N1, 034,700 (One Million and Thirty-four Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira Only) from the organization in 2014’’, the management of MICHAEL HULL SERVICES in the referenced report explained that the then university librarian, Dr (Mrs) Ruth Simon Bassey contacted Michael Hull Services, in the aforementioned year – to provide academic/professional journals to the university library in preparation for the accreditation of the academic programs of the university by the National University Commission.
Dr (Mrs) Bassey, according to the firm, had assured that immediate payment would be made after the delivery of the journals to the university.
She thus pleaded with him (Isioma Anyinyem) to grant the credit to the university even though this was against the practice in the firm. The organization agreed and supplied the journals to the university library.
Unfortunately, however, to this day, the organization has written and appealed to the bursar, vice-chancellor, accountant and university librarian to pay the money as promised, but the appeals never yielded any result.
‘In 2015, I demanded payment. She informed me that the invoice was being processed. In 2016, I called again to say that I had not been paid; she stated that the university and the former university bursar were having legal issues in court and that I would be paid after the case. She later called me to say that a new university bursar had been appointed and that I would be paid.
“But contrary to that promise, when I called the new university bursar, she stated that she was unaware of the non-settlement of that invoice. I sent the details to her, but nothing was done.
“As if that was not enough woes, ‘in 2018, the university bursar sent a message to my telephone stating that the contract was awarded by the former university vice-chancellor and funded or paid for. I quickly informed Dr (Mrs) Simon Bassey of the new development, but she immediately denied the bursar’s claim and told me she had met her on several occasions to advance my case.
“She went further to inform me that it would be false and sent this Payment Voucher Number: Michael Hull, PV, 158 of 14th Jan, 016 # 906,865.50. This was likely to reassure me that there was no payment made to anybody. I forwarded the message to the bursar, but she refused to state who the payment was made to. I wrote to the vice-chancellor of the university, demanding and appealing to him to pay me. There was no response from him’’.
Continuing, Mr Isioma said, “In 2019, the university librarian, Mrs Nkoyo Edem called me to apologize on behalf of the university and appealed to me not to take legal action against the university and that I should forward a copy of the original invoice of the supplied journals to her for onward processing. I did this, but unfortunately, the university has refused to pay me or even reach out to me till today.
“Not even my petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offices Commission (ICPC) and the Public Complaints Commission have been able to compel UNICAL management to positively respond to my demand,” Isioma concluded.”
This is the reality confronting Isioma Aninyem and his firm, Michael Hull Services!
Going by the above account, it will elicit the question as to; who knows how many Nigerians have suffered similar fates in the past or still going through such plight in the hands of the University of Calabar management. How many Nigerian businessmen/women would stand the test? Who will stop the university authority from such inhuman treatment of their fellow Nigerians? What is the offence committed by Michael Hull? Who should be the judge? Must we as a nation allow UNICAL to go on with such practice to the detriment of businesses in Nigeria?
Undoubtedly, it will be convenient for some commentators to argue that this is a commercial dispute and, therefore, should be settled privately without coming to the public domain. But in the opinion of this piece, there are glaring reasons why this particular issue must be investigated.
Very fundamental, the university in question is a public institution of higher learning conducted with the approval and from the funds of the public. Therefore, when such a public institution ceases to have public support or is involved in any form of infraction that has to do with a lack of transparency or accountability or a combination of both, it forfeits its right to exist. In the present circumstance, a university maintained on permanent public funds has been accused of being serially reputed for undermining public trust. Therefore, this piece sees no reason why it should not be placed under scrutiny.
Regardless of what others may say about the amount of money in question, by all standards, N1,034,700 is a huge amount that must not be allowed to go unaccounted for. Similarly, assuming without conceding that the money used for the supply of the journal was a loan sourced from a financial institution, the weight of accumulated interest in the past 9years would have been crushing by now.
Like an unchained torrent of water submerging the whole countryside and devastating crops, even so, will the authorities of the university continue to treat their suppliers and other stakeholders if this particular infraction and others are not investigated and those involved bare ought to book?
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led the Federal Government, and other relevant stakeholders must, therefore, look into this present issue as there exists the possibility of such ill-treatment escalating in other universities in Nigeria if the present is handled with levity.
Jerome-Mario Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy) at Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He can be reached via [email protected]/08032725374