Affected staff of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), have appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in what they described as an unfair disengagement following their recruitment into the institution, alleging that some of their names were substituted after a federal verification exercise.
Speaking with journalists in Umuahia, some of the affected workers, including Comrade Engineer Eze Ejike, Mrs. Gospel Wike, Barrister Roseline Okpechi and Eunice Uche Chioma, denied allegations that they paid money to secure their appointments, insisting that the recruitment process was transparent and merit-based.
According to them, the only payments they made were official fees for medical examinations and the processing of staff identity cards. They added that they were captured under the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) by officials from Abuja during the documentation exercise.
The workers also noted that the university’s Registrar, Dr. Nkiruka Mbanaso, and some other management staff are currently on suspension over alleged misconduct, although they did not establish a direct link between the suspension and their employment dispute.
They further alleged that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Professor Princewill Ogbonna, supervised the forceful collection of staff identity cards from affected workers during a meeting, while some employees managed to leave the venue with their identity cards.
According to the workers, about 553 newly recruited employees were captured during the federal verification exercise conducted by officials from Abuja, while 127 were later disengaged.
The affected staff explained that the recruitment process began after the university advertised vacancies. Applicants were interviewed online and subsequently received appointment letters through their email addresses before undergoing medical examinations, documentation, verification and biometric capture.
They alleged that the documentation exercise lasted for about three weeks because only one computer was available for the biometric capture of hundreds of applicants. According to them, many applicants slept for days inside Kayoosan Hall on the university campus, while others who travelled from outside Umuahia spent significant amounts on hotel accommodation to complete the exercise.
Following the verification, they resumed duties and were posted to various departments within the university. Many, they said, resigned from their previous employment and relocated from different parts of the country, including Port Harcourt and Lagos, to take up the appointments.
However, they alleged that despite working for about five months, they were not paid salaries.
The workers said the current Vice-Chancellor initially assured them that everyone captured by officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had been duly employed and had nothing to fear. They claimed that management later informed them that the Federal Government’s recruitment waiver covered only 426 positions and that anyone outside that number would not receive salaries or continue working.
According to them, when salary payments eventually commenced, only a fraction of the newly recruited staff received alerts, while many others were directed to fill forms at the university’s administrative block.
The workers alleged that they were later invited to another meeting where those who had not received salaries were instructed to submit their staff identity cards.
They claimed many workers initially resisted surrendering the identity cards because they believed doing so could jeopardise their employment. However, some eventually complied after allegedly being assured that doing so would facilitate the restoration of their appointments.
Instead, they alleged that those who surrendered their identity cards were issued disengagement letters.
According to the workers, security personnel locked the meeting hall, preventing some affected employees from leaving while the process was ongoing.
“They were sending messages to us from inside the hall, saying they had been locked in and were unable to leave because security personnel were preventing them from going out,” one of the workers alleged.
They further claimed that the collected staff identity cards were placed inside a large bag and taken away by a senior university official.
The workers also alleged that some of their colleagues later informed members of their WhatsApp platform that they signed the disengagement letters under duress.
Rejecting allegations that they paid for employment, the workers insisted they were recruited legitimately through a public advertisement and completed every stage of the recruitment process successfully.
“We did not pay anybody to get this job. We only paid the official fees for our medicals and staff identity cards. We were captured by federal officials, resumed work and carried out our responsibilities,” one of the workers said.
The affected employees further alleged that after the federal verification exercise, their names were unlawfully substituted on the payroll.
“We heard that those of us who were duly captured by officials from Abuja had our names replaced by other people. We want the Federal Government to produce the original list from Abuja so Nigerians can see whether our names were on it,” one of the workers stated.
The workers maintained that they became full members of staff after resuming duty, signing attendance registers, joining staff unions and performing official responsibilities.
They rejected calls for compensation, insisting that their only demand is reinstatement.
“We don’t want compensation. We want our jobs back. The appointments were legally given to us. We fulfilled every requirement and have all our documents intact,” one of the affected workers said.
They added that many of them resigned from previous jobs and relocated with their families to Umudike after receiving their appointment letters, while some allegedly suffered severe emotional and financial hardship during the crisis.
According to the workers, two affected employees have died since the controversy began, while another allegedly lost two children in a road accident after relocating with his family. They added that many of them had resigned their previous jobs after receiving their appointment letters.
Appealing to the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Education and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the workers called for an investigation into the recruitment process, the release of the original list of candidates captured during the federal verification exercise, and the reinstatement of all affected employees if any irregularities are established.
As of the time of filing this report, the management of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, had not issued an official response to the allegations.
