By Yabagi Mohammed
THE last may not have been heard about the story about Kogi State University’s sack of 340 staff appointed in the dying minutes of the administration of the immediate Past Vice Chancellor, Professor Hassan Isah, as reactions have continued to trail the news.
Professor Isah in a telephone interview with our reporter, has debunked the story, he out rightly denied embarking on any recruitment exercise during his stay in office, saying however that he had to make the only employment exercise he embarked on in view of the expanding facilities on campus.
The former Vice Chancellor who also denied appointing as much as 340 staff members into the university’s workforce, stated that those he eventually engaged got their employment after a rigorous process which met global best practices.
Citing examples of the Physical Planning, Works, Security and Bursary Departments of the University as areas where expansions were needed, the immediate past Vice Chancellor said he had bring in new hands to assist in the maintenance of the intensifying infrastructure on campus.
Accordingly, he said Faculties of Education and Medicine, which were introduced during his reign needed accreditation, hence his enlistment of proficient hands to aid immediate takeoff and subsequent accreditation, which he did.
He explained: “The University Community was growing rapidly and the available infrastructure was below the carrying capacity of the institution, hence the need to have experienced people to maintain them, which is what necessitated the recruitment into these sectors.
“Some of the infrastructure we provided as part of our Physical Planning were located in unsecured locations, therefore we engaged the services of more individuals at the security Department of the University to safeguard these materials.
“Still talking about Physical Planning, the need for more befitting beautification and landscaping came about in view of the iconic status that the institution was beginning to get, hence there was the need to engage more professionals in manning that facet.
He denied engaging in any activity that negate the laid down rules for the engagement in the deployment fresh hands for the institution, and challenged anyone to produce any evidence that indicate that he engaged in any form of shoddy deals in the entire recruitment exercise.
While being steadfast in his assertion that he enlisted those he engaged due to urgent need to do so, Prof Isah told our reporter that given more time, he would have employed more persons into the service of the institution because he understands the challenges that confront the institution.
