The University of Jos chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has insisted that its former member, Dr Benedicta Daudu, still stays suspended from the University over examination misconduct.
Dr Lazarus Maigoro, the Chairman of the union in the university, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Jos.
Maigoro debunked some media reports that the former UniJos law teacher was exonerated by the institution of the grave offense.
“Our attention has been drawn to some newspaper publications on the examination misconduct scandal concerning Dr Benedicta Daudu, a former staff of the Faculty of Law, University of Jos, who is now a lecturer with Taraba State University, Jalingo.
“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have responded to the issues but because we are major stakeholders in the university whose responsibility among many others is to ensure sanity, probity, quality and equality in the university education system, we have decided to state the true position so that the public will not be misguided and also protect the integrity of our union.
“As a union that believes in the principles of academic integrity toward attaining high academic standards even where its members are involved, we want to state and inform the public in very clear terms that the newspaper publications are false and a misrepresentation of the issues in relation to the examination misconducts concerning Daudu.
“Our position is based on the fact that Daudu appeared before the University senate committee on examination misconduct and accepted committing the misconduct.
“Consequently, on the July, 13, 2016, the registrar of the University who is the secretary to senate conveyed to Daudu via a memo, senate decision suspending her as a student from the university for one academic session,” he said.
Maigoro further said that examination malpractice is a serious offense in any institution, hence there was no way the lecturer would have been exonerated.
He explained that Paragraph three of the memo from the senate states that Senate, at its second regular meeting for the 2015/2016 academic session, held on June 30, 2016, considered the reports of its committee as it affects Daudu and approved that she be suspended for two semesters with effect from the begining of the first semester of the same academic session.
He added that the senate also approved the cancellation of her Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) 513 examination result in line with stipulated guidelines and recommendation of the committee.
“Examination misconduct whether it is by a lecturer or a student is a serious breach of examination ethics that cannot go unpunished once the person is caught.
“Therefore to say that the University of Jos cleared her of examination misconduct as captured in some publications is actually not true.
“As major stakeholders in the university, our union is obliged to present the true position since it is a very critical issue that affects the integrity of our members, our union as well as the University at large,” he said.