The Chairperson, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Port Harcourt, (UNIPORT), Rivers State, U.D. Chima has announced the death of a member, Dr Christian Emedolu of the Department of Philosophy, who collapsed on hearing that the Federal Government has revealed its determination not to accede to the demands of ASUU and has refused to pay the backlog of their salaries.
The deceased, who got married on June 12, 2021, died at the University of Port-Harcourt (UPTH) on Monday, August 22, 2020 and has been deposited in the morgue.
According to Chima, Emedolu’s death was facilitated by the hardship the Federal Government subjected the staff of public universities to in the last six months adding, “The ruling class instead of being proactive to resolve the impasse between it and the University workers, resorted to deploying the malicious tool of hunger to force us back to work.”
The deceased was said to have developed a stroke and went into comma last Saturday, August 20, 2022, when he heard that the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu pointed out that the government would not pay the salaries of the striking lecturers as a punishment.
The Union executive did everything to ensure the survival of their ailing member as Chima noted, “I made every arrangement with the HOD of the Department of Philosophy, Dr Desmond Nbete, to ensure that he received adequate medical attention as we watched him lie helpless in his sickbed in a very bad and precarious situation.”
Chima explained, “I contacted comrades at UPH, Prof. Rosemary Ogu and Dr Ugochukwu Agi (Convener, ASUU UniPort Health Committee) who quickly met us at the Accident and Emergency Section of UPTH, made arrangements for him to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and for the necessary scan to be done. I had to leave UPTH at 9:50 am to preside over the ASUU EXCO meeting at 10:00 am before Congress at noon, following the recent attempt and drama by the Federal Government to jettison the recommendations of the Prof. Emeritus Briggs Committee on the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
“At the EXCO meeting, we deliberated on Dr Emedolu’s health condition and quickly approved some funds in favour of the wife to handle the necessary expenditure, bearing in mind the current hardship inflicted on us by the Federal Government.
“My heart bled when Dr Emedolu’s wife informed me almost in tears that the health condition of her husband who was hypertensive, degenerated when he heard the news that lecturers will not be paid the six months salary arrears.
“I was told that Dr Emedolu was an outstanding scholar and a very dedicated staff but we have lost him and the wealth of his knowledge partly because of the callousness of the ruling class. I was also told that Dr Emedolu would have been a Professor since October 2020, if not for the delay in our promotion process.
“I wish to thank the HoD of the Department of Philosophy, Dr Nbete for the palpable concern he showed yesterday and our comrades in UPTH, Prof Rosemary Ogu and Dr Ugochukwu Agi, for their quick response to my distress call and invaluable assistance to ensure that Dr Emedolu lived, though all are now in vain.
As we console his family and ourselves and wish his soul eternal rest, I must say without any iota of equivocation and prevarication, that our lives as Nigerians can be much better with good leadership at all levels.
“I’m just thinking of what will become of his very young wife. It’s well.”
Comments 1