The American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, has sacked about 400 of its staff due to a restructuring process embarked on by the management of the institution.
WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that the school is owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. This is coming four days after GOTEL, a media company owned by the PDP chieftain sacked 46 of its workers.
In a statement made available to reporters in Yola on Tuesday, the school’s Vice President for University Relations, Prof. Abba Tahir, said the sack of the workers was unavoidable.
He noted that the university retained the competitive workers, while others who had no significant effect on the university were sacked.
Tahir added that the disengaged workers were paid all their contractual benefits at the point of clearance before receiving their sack letters.
“Certain structural elements have been initiated by the new Governing Council of American University of Nigeria (AUN), in response to NUC requirements, mandating the institution to align with an approved governance structure for all tertiary institutions in the country.
”Until now, AUN has operated a student-staff ratio which balance had continued to affect the sustainability of the university.
”This is clearly an uncommon and hardly workable tradition in all institutions and organisations around the world. Obviously it is unattainable.
”Thus, consequent upon the university’s new governing council vote to restructure the institution in line with its agenda for sustainability, a process of workforce rationalisation has been in the pipeline.
”It is now time for the university to look back, look around and look ahead, to ensure that realistic and globally competitive administrative practices can be achieved in structure, strategy and focus.
“It would not be realistic for AUN to continue to anchor its administrative structure on an over-bloated personnel whose role do not have significant effect on the philosophy of a development university,” he said.