Rumbles in UNN over alleged plagiarism as don accuses mgt of shielding culprit * Says ‘Anambra imperialism’ killing UNN *I teach under trees sometimes – don

Rumbles in UNN over alleged plagiarism as don accuses mgt of shielding culprit

* Says ‘Anambra imperialism’ killing UNN
*I teach under trees sometimes – don

By Steve Oko

There is grumbling at the prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, over alleged plagiarism involving a lecturer in the Department of History (names withheld), as some concerned academics have accused the management of shielding the alleged culprit.

The concerned lecturers demand thorough investigation of the allegation and proper sanctioning of the alleged culprit to redeem the image of the foremost university in Nigeria.

This is as Professor Johnson Uko of the Department of Political Science, has alleged that the dominance of key management positions in the university by people from Anambra State ” is killing the institution”.

Professor Uko who addressed newsmen in Umuahia as he visited home following the on-going strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, alleged that over 95% of those at the helm of affairs in the university “is from Anambra State”.

” UNN is now in decay because of Anambra imperialism. The headship of the institution is dominated by Anambra State.

” Almost all Council members are from Anambra. Over 95% of the Directors are all from Anambra State. You won’t get even ordinary admission, if you are not linked to them”.

Professor Uko said he was not raising the alarm out of malice but out of his desire for the right things to be done to save the prestigious institution from total decay.

Meanwhile, efforts to extract reaction from the university were unsuccessful as the Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Igwe, did not pick calls put across to him.

He also had yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone as at the time of filing this report.

Professor Uko lamented infrastructural dilapidation in the institution and called for quick intervention by the relevant stakeholders.

” UNN is sick! It requires a lifeline. I teach under trees sometimes or inside the stadium.
Sometimes I borrow classroom just like others.

” The university is stagnant in all ramifications largely because of poor management. There is gross failure of standards in the institution.”

He called for thorough investigation of the plagiarism scandal rocking the university, saying that it is annoying for UNN that has been the pride of the country academically to suddenly crash.

Professor Uko wondered why the Management would not apply the rules in the said incident

“The rule is that if you are a student, you lose your studentship; if you’re a staff you’ll be dismissed.

“The accused presented a project that had 56 pages of an academic work that belongs to a Professor at the Hamburg University, Germany.

“Dr Uche Okonkwo who was in the team of academics during the seminar presentation by the culprit googled it and quickly made the observation and drew the attention of the panel to it.

“Dr. Uche followed it up with a petition but surprisingly, instead of setting up an open panel, he was asked to withdraw the petition. Now we hear that they constituted a panel.

“This panel, if actually, it was constituted, did not bother to ask the petitioner to testify at the panel”, he contended.

Corroborating the account by Professor Uko, Dr. Okonkwo who spoke to our Correspondent on phone, admitted that he was on the academic panel that supervised the alleged culprit.

He said that when he googled the topic being presented by the alleged culprit he discovered that many pages of the work were plagiarised, and he petitioned the VC for investigation.

“I did a petition to the VC, but to my greatest surprise, nothing came out of it except the rumour that later came out that a penal had already been set up and that the panel had finished its work and found him innocent. I said that that cannot happen. By next week, I’ll do a reminder to the VC.

“In a normal academic environment, a panel would’ve been set up and the petitioner invited to substantiate his claims and the report published and appropriate punishment meted out, but that was not the case in this instance”, he alleged.

He said his desire as an academic was to ensure quality assurance in any work of the institution and to preserve its cherished image.

“At my level for scholarship what is important for me is to do the right thing and save the university system from the hands of charlatans, after all that’s one of the issues ASUU is campaigning against.

“Any university lecturer at the rank of a professor who supports or covers academic fraud has no business being in the university. I’m not afraid of being victimized”, he declared.

Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.

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