This appeal to governor Liyel Imoke to properly do the right thing in the indefinite strike and closure of the only State University of Technology (CRUTECH) has become necessary in view of the suffering and delay our children and parents are exposed to since the year 2014 upon which the staff went on strike to press home their request for better pay and improved academic facilities.
It will be recalled that the university staff went on strike due to the lackadaisical attitude with which Gov. Loyel Imoke and his administration handled matters touching the university.
It is sad that up till this moment, no concrete efforts or steps have been taken by Imoke to show seriousness or commitment to the plight of the staff and students for the closure. Our children in CRUTECH are exposed to all manner of life styles by reason of their continuous idealness at home and in their villages. It is true that an ideal mind is the devil’s workshop.
Cross Riverians who earn their living through services rendered to the university are left helpless without option but to go begging, borrowing and even dying by installments.
No matter how one rationalizes, Gov. Imoke has no reason or justification to subject the State University, the vision of the charismatic Donald Duke to be wasted on the alter of unnecessary mediocrity. Cross Riverians know that Donald Duke meant well for the people when he established the university and that should not be forgotten through the neglect of the university by Gov. Liyel Imoke.
Imoke should show honest sympathy and real concern to the plight of the students whose time to graduate from the State University is no longer certain or known. Rather than concentrate on other visionless white elephant projects never-to-be completed, it is commonsensical for him to channel the state limited resources to finance the University of Technology.
It certainly will be preposterous to expose the incoming Ayade government to inheriting this avoidable self imposed burden.
The streets of Calabar now are in a mess, refuse heaps are allowed over the streets with the possibility of an epidemic within the urban city. The judicial workers cannot continue being on strike, state workers are not paid their salaries as at when due and pensioners are not paid their pensions.
This cannot be heard of any administration no matter how rational it is. Let Imoke wake up from his slumber even if he has one (1) day to remain in power. Let the State University like Tinapa not be abandoned. Continuity is the symbol of a well focused state government.
Barrister Utum Eteng is a legal practitioner writing from Calabar