[www.inewsguyana.com] – Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Professor Jacob Opadeyi says that the current crisis at the institution is not something that developed over a short period of time.
Opadeyi, in a statement to the media, said that the “national community” allowed the institution to deteriorate over the past years.
“It is a pity that the current industrial impasse is being used to point fingers. No one entity should be blamed for the current state of UG, but the national community as a whole who have sat back and allowed this noble university to suffer from decades of neglect, abandonment, and political grandstanding,” the Vice Chancellor.
Opadei contended that the problem at UG is not merely a problem of decades of underfunding and poor management but the lack of a national policy on how to fund the University.
The Vice Chancellor noted that “in the absence of such a national policy, accountability, transparency and due diligence can hardly be demanded. Strategic plans, development goals, monitoring and evaluation and score cards will be foreign words to Council and Administration. I ask, when last was the management of UG called before the Parliament to account for its revenue and expenditure? Who dares to ask UG to do such a thing when its income cannot meet its expenditure, when its budgets are unrealistic, when there is no financial discipline?”
According to Opadeyi, the need to inject large sums of money into UG is without question. He said that such money would be used to upgrade its infrastructure and build new and modern facilities.
“For the sake of our students, I humbly request a return to normalcy, negotiation in good faith, and respect for each other. Respect for our paying students, respect for our hard working students, respect for the staff, respect for the Council who has supported this administration, and respect for the government’s financial regime,” said Opadeyi.
