Otti asks Abia varsity to probe students protest

Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has charged management of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike to get to the root cause of the recent protest by students of the institution which led to school’s closure in order to forestall future unrest.

Otti gave the charge while addressing management staff of the university who visited him on Tuesday.

He noted that such academic distortion is not healthy for the future of the younger generation.

The university management suspended academic activities indefinitely following a protest by students against the increment of school fees last month.

However, the governor promised to liaise with the management of the institution and other stakeholders to enable the resumption of full academic activities.

“It is important that you get to the root of the matter. If the investigation panel does not do a thorough job, you may not get to the root and one of the ways to solve a problem is not to prejudge it. That (prejudging) will close your mind to every other suggestion.

“Let’s find out what exactly is the reason for the protest, I think it turned out violent. Let’s do a thorough investigation to know the root cause and deal with it from the root”, he said.

Otti, who also spoke on the Agric Business Incubation Centre which would soon be established in the university, directed the Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof Monica Ironkwe, and the Principal Secretary to the Governor to engage the institution on the way forward.

On the court case instituted against the university by the Abia State Internal Revenue Service two years ago on account of unremitted PAYE, he assured them that the matter would be withdrawn for out of court settlement.

He said, “There is no way, we as a government would take you to court . Since it is something that predated us, we are going to look into it and discontinue it. It doesn’t make sense. I will instruct the Chairman of the BIR to discontinue the suit. There is nothing we cannot sit down and resolve it.”

The governor also promised to engage the university and its host communities in resolving issues militating against the chances of the university getting Certificate of Occupancy for its land.