Tension Brews In CRUTECH Following Management’s Decision To Revoke Senior Staff Claim To Boys Quarters

By Ushang Ewa

There are whispers of a pending faceoff between the management of the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) and its staff resident in the institution’s staff quarters in the Calabar campus of the varsity following its decision to retrieve boys’ quarters from them and allocate to junior staff.

The management in two circulars; No. 142 and 143, date November 10, 2015, signed by the registrar, Gabriel Beshel and issued to all staff resident in the staff quarters, directed staff (in circular No. 142) to keep their compounds “clean and orderly within the week” up to the borders or the “Management will be compelled to revoke the house allocation of violators of this directive.”

This according to the circular is because “Management views with dismay the unclean conditions of the surroundings of most apartments in the University Staff Quarters”.

In Circular No. 143, the management claimed that the boys quarters attached to apartments within the Varsity’s staff quarters have been given out to occupants which the management described as “unknown to CRUTECH authorities”.

This, according to the circular, “has significantly resulted in damages to University property” and “it also endangers the security of the University community” which has caused the management to “recover all boys quarters currently occupied by non-staff and re-assign same for the benefit of interested junior staff”.

The circular read in part thus; “Based on the foregoing, you are hereby given up till December 31, 2015 to relinquish possession of your Boys Quarters, failing which Management will be constrained to cancel and re-assign your apartments.”

These directives CrossRiverWatch learnt has increased the tension in the University community as several staff have allowed relatives to live in the boys quarters or ‘BQ’ as it is popularly called for years with others giving it out for rent to students at a rate of between 30 to 35 thousand per annum.

Some staff and their spouses who spoke with CrossRiverWatch on condition of anonymity say the management led by Professor Owan Enoh is “beginning to bite more than it can chew” and “creating scenarios were there will be disaffection between senior and junior staff”.

Another added that “This came up during the Polytechnic days but died down because it just cannot work, after all, it is called boys quarters”.

A source in the management however disagrees claiming that “the interest of the junior staff comes into play; I think this will help protect them from wicked landlords”.

A visit to the Varsity’s staff quarters show that the staff complied with circular No. 142 but are unwilling to do same for 143.