By AmucheNnabueze
March 19, 2018, folded up like every other day. For many
people on this side of the earth, however, it will linger not just in their
memories and have added significance. It was the first day of work for many at
the University of Nigeria following more than three months strike action by
non-academic staff.
It may be business as usual for
the returning personnel. For the more
conscientious, it may spell more dedication to duty and a new call to self-application in the responsibilities assigned by the university. For the new employees, there maybe different expectations: the primary one is an elevation to
the rank of salary earners. To some, it will
be a movement from the poor take home in
the state civil service to the comparatively 'huge' bounty the Federal public service offers in the minds of most. Some are even comingback
and have to switch to the Naira emoluments from their hard currency emoluments
and the lavish lifestyle they are used to in the countries to which they
migrated before the lure of UNN caught up with them.
There are different expectations regarding duty, from the very greenhorns
to the very skilled workers. The less experienced
workers will undoubtedly outnumber the
skilled workers. This assumption is a task
for the Human Resource (Personnel Services) Unit of the University. It demands new
approaches to human resource service. It also spells broader involvement of the security department since the population
increase would likely bring along challenges that may require security
attention.
Expectations in our clime are unfortunately often directed at the government,
administration and leadership of a system. This attitude usually leaves the individuals who should make
the system run smoothly with no sense of responsibility to the system. However, the expectation is that for all these newly employed, many of
who will resume officially following the end of the months-long strike action
of the nonteaching staff of the Nigerian Universities, there should be a
commitment and sense of duty to 'my' alma mater. They should want to give their
best to the first university in Nigeria and to space where many - a substantial
number of our young minds- pass through
to become whatever they and society eventually make of them. From the
cleaner who keeps the aesthetics and beauty of the environment to enhance our
physical and psychological health at work to the professor, the wise egghead
who shells out the knowledge and the students, each has a duty which
when neglected or done shoddily affects the system in adverse ways.
In other words.... for those
who pride themselves of the fact that the UNN is their commonwealth like the Nsukka man and the Igbo man and the other
Nigerians who will usually point to the universality of it being the University of Nigeria and so should offer
opportunities to all and sundry. The job ahead is enormous. We need committed
people. Committed workers in order to restore the dignity of our society,
currently awash in the mud of corruption, mediocrity, wantonness and evil. We
need cleaners who are committed and ready to take up the brooms and brushes and
scrub till the floor glistens. Not those whose cleaning stops at the bosses’
desk, leaving the place in coats of red dust. We need storekeepers who are ready to take inventory and keep same with
utmost integrity, drivers who drive university vehicles just the way they drive
their personal cars, refuelling with integrity and sincerity. Technicians whose
skills will keep the laboratories, workshops and studios functional. Not those
who will uninstall equipment or refuse to run the ones installed so that their
personal equipment will be used and thus generating fund for their personal aggrandizement.
UNN is in dire need of security officials sincere to the calling to secure
lives and properties as well as teach virtues to both staff and students.
Administrative staff who are conscious of their duties and responsibilities.
Lecturers committed to research, development teaching and mentoring young people in the decade of the
millennials.
The increase in staff
population should ease bottlenecks for students’ lifecycle processes. Creating
less torment for these young ones will, in turn, reduce our everyday administrative engagements. It is practical. When
they graduate, for instance, they are
re-employed in places like the Pensions Board. Given their experience, they may either make it smooth or
full of drudgery. Remember, you cannot
give what you do not have.
A pertinent angle to this
increase is our care of the environment and our attitude to rules and
regulations: do not break 'no loitering' signs, post no bills rules. The speed limit on campus has always been
40km/h, no noise zone, no parking zones, stop at the the intersection, obey single lane rules and many more.
The Vice-Chancellor wishes for
things to run at its best. Consequently, there are
ample improvements: roads reconstructed,
buildings taking better shapes and new
structures springing up, staff sent for additional training, and more.
University staff wait with high anticipation the fulfillment of
the earned allowance promise which will in no little way ease the stress piled on them due to the recession. Even as there are
claims the recession has reduced, it left
many in poverty.
UNN is a legacy with which we
cannot toy. Claiming its ownership should motivate the ‘owners’ to work hard at
making it the best in all ramifications.
Dr
Nnabueze is of the Department of Fine & Applied Arts, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka
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