Strong indications emerged that the fate of the thousands of students of the Nigeria Maritime University NMU, Okerenkoko in Warri, Delta State may be hanging in the balance as agitation by workers including academic and non-academic might scuttle the long awaited accreditation of the specialised institution.

Competent sources hinted that the National Universities Commission NUC has fixed next Monday, January 17, 2022 for the accreditation of the departments and courses of the university, a development that might be marred by agitations by the workers, who alleged that the management has yet to fulfil its promise of clearing all outstanding arrears of allowances, which led to the suspension of the strike action declared by the workers towards the end of last year.

But in a swift response, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Emmanuel Adigio admitted that though the students might be the greatest casualties if the accreditation is aborted, the workers would also lose their jobs if their faculties and departments were not accredited by the NUC, a development that benefits no one.

The sources noted that the scheduled accreditation exercise by the NUC offers an ample opportunity for the aggrieved workers to compel the management to meet its financial obligations to the workers, arguing that the management in its usual characteristic would not give any ear to the workers’ demand for the payment of arrears of allowances and general better working condition.

The sources also argued that the major reason the management decided to negotiate with the striking workers late last year was because preparations for the NUC accreditation were already on top gear and therefore, such agitations if not nipped in the bud might hamper that.  

While speaking in a telephone interview, the VC noted that the management is more than ever committed to the welfare of the members of staff, noting that the promise was made based on the fact that some funds were being expected, which have not materialised. He assured that as soon as the funds come in, the promises would be fulfilled.

He said: “If the workers want to scuttle the accreditation exercise, let them go ahead. We made a promise when they embarked on strike last year but the money has not come. For your information, it is not only the students that would suffer if the institution was not accredited by the NUC.

“What do you think would happen to a lecturer if his or her department is not accredited and eventually scrapped” We are not going to steal to pay anybody, as soon as we get the funds we are expecting, we will pay as soon as we have the funds.”

Recall that the workers, comprising academic and non-academic had commenced an indefinite strike on November 9, 2021 to protest alleged non- payment of over 30 months of allowances, general poor welfare for members of staff and poor infrastructure, to which they claimed the management had paid deaf ears after repeated warnings.

The decision to embark on a strike, according to the workers, was reached following a meeting of both the academic and non-academic staffers at the temporary campus in Kurutie also in Delta State. In a resolution jointly signed by Comrades Oweikeye Pathfinder Endoro and Moses Yabrade after the meeting, the workers unanimously endorsed the strike.

Some of the grievances of the workers include alleged non- payment of allowances, which include the 13th month, payable every October, which was stopped since 2019, 28th –day accommodation allowance in lieu stopped since 2019, statutory incidental, hazard, peculiarity and other allowances in one package also stopped since May, 2019, all of which they claimed were approved by the Federal Government through the governing council of the institution and earned prior to May, 2019, as payments were allegedly ongoing before the advent of the current management.

Others include inadequate infrastructure for teaching and learning, inadequate office accommodation for staffers, total absence of a Library at Okerenkoko campus, no residential accommodation for staffers etc. They had argued that as members of staff of NMU, their duty is to meet up on their part of the bargain in terms of the service level agreement (SLA) by doing their job always while the job of the management is to pay for their services and that how and where they get the money, is not the business of the workers.