Scandal As Wife Of Ex-Uniuyo VC Sets To Defend Ph.D Thesis March 10
By UbongAbasi Ise
There appears to be academic controversies trailing Mrs. Rosalyn Essien, the wife of the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, as she allegedly prepares for oral viva examination scheduled for Wednesday 10th March, 2021 in the Department of History and International Studies, University of Uyo.
Sources in the Faculty of Arts in the university who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity claimed that while other candidates that gained admission along with Mrs. Essien to the Department of History and International Studies same year to do full-time Ph.D programme are still battling to defend their seminars, the wife of the former Vice Chancellor had long gone pass such stage under questionable circumstances, adding that she is the only candidate in the whole of Faculty of Arts from 2017/2018 set who is likely to participate in the forthcoming oral defence of the thesis.
In what appears to be a preferential treatment, the informants alleged that before Mrs. Essien even finished defending the last of her four seminars, she was already given a nod ahead of others to pick a thesis topic which was speedily approved for her for writing. The work is said to have been ready for defence on March 10 even with a semester left for the candidate to complete her three session programme, our correspondent gathered.
One of the unnamed sources explained that Ph.D candidates must mandatorily complete six academic semesters and become eligible to defend their thesis, but he was regretting that the processes have allegedly been manipulated to give Mrs. Essien an edge over other candidates, while expressing doubt over the high speed the wife of the former vice chancellor moved to reach this level ahead of her counterparts despite Covid lockdown and periods of strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
To confirm the period meant for the programme, a History department’s Handbook on Postgraduate Programmes published in 2015 as sighted by our correspondent, provides that the duration of the Ph.D programme “is for a minimum of six semesters and a maximum of eight semesters.”
An undisclosed source also revealed that attempts were allegedly made for Mrs. Rosalyn Essien to defend her thesis about two weeks after ASUU called off its nine-month old strike in December 2020, but due to the death of her external examiner, Prof. C.C. Osakwe of the Department of History in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), the viva exercise was called off while her number was then reassigned to Prof. John Ememugwem of Department of History and Diplomatic Studies in the University of Port Harcourt whose tenure as an external examiner had long expired.
In explaining why the university system purportedly expedited the process to favour this particular candidate, the source alleged that ex-VC Enefiok Essien was to appoint his wife a senior lecturer with the hope that she would defend her thesis to help confirm her position before the expiration of his tenure as Vice Chancellor.
When our correspondent contacted the Dean of the Postgraduate School, Prof. Kingsley Akpabio, he confessed that he was not aware of the alleged irregularities but promised that the matter would be investigated, maintaining that if the allegations are confirmed, then the school senate, not an individual, would take appropriate action. He expressed his confidence in the senate, saying “such a thing cannot happen with the senate I know.”
On the procedures involved in appointing an external examiner, the university don said the institution works according to laid down rules and regulations and are not bended for any cause no matter who is involved, adding that “It is the senate matter and we are following the protocols precisely.”
Also speaking to our correspondent, the outgoing Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Anthonia Essien, who was at the time engulfed by the recent deanship election, said the University of Uyo cannot allow what is not proper to be done, maintaining that the school stands for quality while promising to further investigate the matter in order to respond factually. But she could not get back to our correspondent as scheduled apparently because of the expiration of her tenure.
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