By Benjamin Oladele.
Weeks into the end of the tenure of the outgoing Vice Chancellor of Federal University Lokoja, Professor Olayemi Akinwunmi, the inability of the institution to pay the honorarium owed to the staff of the institution appointed on part-time basis is threatening to make a mess of his record of service.
Many of the part-time lecturers, who spoke with our correspondent in Lokoja said new academic session has begun and that courses have been allocated to them and that they have started to teach the students despite the fact that their honorarium of paltry One Hundred Thousand (N100,000.00) for the last semester remains unpaid.
One of the affected lecturers who brandished his letter of appointment before our reporter said it clearly stated that the sum is supposed to be paid to them at the end of every semester, which lasts almost four months.
The lecturer stated that many of his colleagues who agreed to take up the employment are doing so because of lack of jobs, but that they feel deeply under – appreciated by the lack of timely payment of their allowances.
“I feel the University does not appreciate or care enough for our welfare despite the humongous amount of efforts we put into preparing for and delivering our lectures to the students, timely marking of their scripts and results preparation at the end of every semester.
“Some of us take as much of three or four courses to almost two or more per level. In fact, there are departments that thrive purely on the efforts of part-time lecturers. We put in the same efforts as those on full-time appointments with many of us doing even more. But is sad the way they treat us.”
The part-time staff noted that he had have to make frantic efforts, lobbying the staff in many offices to be able to get his file processed for payment at the end of every semester, stressing that the strenuous efforts do not commensurate with the amount being paid as honorarium, and that on top of that, it is always being delayed without any cogent reason.
Other affected staff also lamented over the situation, noting that the ‘meagre’ amount does not even cover their transportation from town to Felele campus where they take their classes.
Findings by our reporter however put some of the blames on the bureaucracy of staff in charge of payment and those in charge of movement of files from departmental levels to the office of the Vice Chancellor.
A very senior staff in the institution, who said the delay was not entirely the fault of the Vice Chancellor said some departal heads, secretaries to departments, the bursary office and others in the accounts section share in causing the delay.
The senior staff, who also mentioned that lack of adequate funding for internal projects, running of other offices and miscellaneous demands play parts, noting that the current Vice Chancellor has tried in making sure resources are equitably distributed across demanding schedules within the university.
