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The Federal University of Technology, Minna
(FUTMINNA) in Niger State, has expelled a
doctoral student Olateju Ademola Mukaila, for
alleged plagiarism.
Three lecturers accused of complicity in the case
were sanctioned. The decision did not go down
well with the Academic Staff Union (ASUU),
JUSTINA ASISHANA Minna reports.
The expulsion of a doctoral student of the Federal
University of Technology, Minna, (FUTMINNA),
Niger State is generating controversy in the
university.
Olateju Adedamola Mukaila, a PhD student in the
Department of Urban and Regional Planning was
expelled after being accused of ‘plagiarism’.
However, he was not punished alone. Three other
lecturers linked to the matter served one
punishment or the other.
For instance, Mukaila’s supervisor (internal) Prof
Oluwole Olukanmi Morenikeji, was not only
demoted, but was relieved of his position as
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics).
Another lecturer, Dr Olatunde Adedayo, the
university’s Turn-It-In officer (‘Turn It In’ is a
software that detects the degree of plagiarism in
a scholarly work), was also suspended, a decision
which the lecturer claimed was unjust and
unconstitutional as the issue was never reported
to his office. Adedayo was initially demoted, but
following his complaints, he was suspended. The
third lecturer (who does not wish to be named),
whose work Mukaila was said to have plagiarised,
was dismissed. He declined to comment on the
matter, saying: “I have nothing to say,†when The
Nation reached out to him.
However, Adedayo appealed the Council’s
decision to demote him, wondering why he had to
be punished when he was the one who informed
the university about the plagiarism. He claimed
he was never in the picture until Mukaila’s project
was brought to his notice.
“I was even the one who informed the relevant
authorities on the allegation and I do not know
the basis or reason why I am also affected,†he
said.
Adedayo said he was invited by management as
a witness. In his appeal to Council, the lecturer
claimed he was neither accused of any crime nor
was he asked to defend himself at any point.
“The appeal panel interacted with me via
telephone because I was on national assignment
then,†said the lecturer.
The teacher said he was to get the biggest
shocker of his life when, after his appeal, the
investigative panel constituted by the Council, not
only refused to clear him, but changed the
allegation and punishment against him. He had to
make another appeal to prove his innocence.
Mukaila, however, is not going down without a
fight. He has challenged the conviction by the
university in the court of law.
The lecturer at Kano State Polytechnic is
demanding N1 million as compensation from
FUTMinna management.
The case, filed before the Minna High Court, is
questioning the reason behind his dismissal after
he had fulfilled all the requirements for
graduation.
When contacted for comments on Mukaila’s
dismissal, the school management said it would
not speak further to avoid contempt of court.
However, regarding Adedayo, a source in the
university claimed that his suspension may not
be unconnected with the fact that he went on
national assignment without due permission while
being investigated.
Further investigation by The Nation revealed that
two other lecturers who travelled with Adedayo
for the same assignment did not get their
approval before the trip, but they were granted
leave during the trip. Not so for Adedayo, who
was not given approval.
Adedayo, who spoke to our correspondent, said
he had since appealed the decision to suspend
him and copied relevant authorities, but was yet
to get a response.
He also described himself as an upright person,
who always speaks up against injustice and has
been a great contributor to the positive status the
institution enjoys.
The plagiarism case is raising a lot of dust in the
university. The Nation learnt that this is the first
case of plagiarism that has led to serious
backlash on the institution. Many workers were
not happy with what they described as the
university’s shoddy manner of handling the
matter.
On its part, the Academic Staff Union of University
(ASUU) FUTMinna chapter, has accused the
management of putting the union in the dark,
saying it was not aware until punishment was
served on its members.
Its chairman, Dr Ndamitso Mohammed, said
ASUU was not invited to be part of the committee
set up to investigate the case.
He said: “I started hearing about the issue as if it
was not an issue at all. Some people were just
hearing things like, ‘this lecturer did this, this
student did that.’
“No one knew the truth about the issue. If they
(management) had informed us, we would have
taken action and it would not have gotten this far
because in the union, an injury to one is an injury
to all.â€
Muhammed also bemoaned the affected members
for failing to reach out to the union during their
trial.
He continued: “Also as ASUU, we cannot just
jump into a case. If there is such a problem, the
members affected are expected to write to us
that they have been victimised, but where such
members did not do that, the union’s hands are
tied.
“We are not aware that our members were invited
to face any disciplinary committee. All we were
hearing then was hearsay because there was no
official complaint.â€
Muhammed said it was after the management’s
verdict, that the lecturers ran to the union.
“When no other members wrote, we decided to
take it upon ourselves by wading into the matter.
We set up a committee at the executive level and
interacted with the affected members to hear their
view,†he said.
Muhammed said the report of the committee was
submitted to the National ASUU, which directed
them to set up another committee because the
previous committee had no member of the
management in it.
“We have not been able to set up the committee
as directed because of the ongoing ASUU strike,
but once the strike is called off, we will set up the
committee and see what can be done,†he said.
The union chairman said the allegations against
his members were not as serious to have
warranted the kind of big stick the management
wielded.
“We are still finding it difficult to find out what
went wrong. It is a sensitive case which many do
not want to dabble into.â€
Many workers approached by The Nation for
comments were afraid to speak on the issue.
The few who spoke agreed on condition of
anonymity. A lecturer in the Department of
Architecture berated the management for taking
the case too far.
“The anti-plagiarism tool is not a punitive, but a
corrective measure. It aimed for originality. Even
if someone is to be punished, it should be the
student and not the lecturers,†the lecturer said.
According to the lecturer, Turn-It-In was adopted
by FUTMINNA in 2010, but it took effect two
years later. The tool, he said, is to highlight the
intensity of work lifted from another work by the
student and show the percentage of the
plagiarised work. If more than a certain
percentage, the student will have to rework to
meet what is acceptable.
“Different levels of studies have its own tolerance
percentage. Here, for undergraduate, it is 20 per
cent or less, for Masters and PGD, it is 15 per
cent or less and for PHD, it is 10 per cent or less.
This student got less than 10 per cent when he
did his final Turn-It-In, so you can also judge if
the case is worth punishing anybody for,†he said.
Another lecturer in the Department of
Biochemistry said he was surprised when he
heard about the case. “Even the Turn-It-In is
usually done after the external seminar and not
before it. So, I do not see any case in this at all.
This is just a clear case of politics in our
institution,†he said.
Another source said. It is agreed that a lot of
people plagarise the work of others, but they do it
in a way that it fits into what they are
researching, and not by writing it verbatim. The
institution blamed the lecturer for not stopping
the external examination, but I can tell you that
the issue of plagiarism is usually not dealt with
before the external examination, but after it.
“Plagiarism is not a punitive measure. I believe
there are many people acting behind the scene.
There is no case regarding this issue. The
punishment given to the lecturers and supervisors
did not equate the offence committed. The law of
the university is weak and the student exploited
the law. The university should have used this as
a lesson towards other cases and not taking it to
this extent.â€
Another lecturer thought it was odd the way the
case progressed saying: “The peculiar thing about
this case was that they punished the staff before
they punished the student and contrary to the
code of service, none of the lecturers punished
were issued query. They were only called as
witnesses and the next thing they had was the
punishment.â€
However, one lecturer blamed the supervisors for
not stopping the external examination when they
realised the work was plagiarised.
“There are a lot of things they could have done
that they did not do. Maybe that is why the
institution punished them. I know the student
Turn It In after the externals, but when it is clear
that it is a highly plagarised work, they should
have raised hiatus and they would have been
vindicated.â€
Repeated text messages and phone calls were
made to the management of the institution to
comment, but no response was got.
Several text messages sent to the Vice-
Chancellor (VC), Prof Abdullahi Bala, were nor
replied. At a point, the Head of Information Unit of
the Institution Mrs Lydia Legbo, promised to fix
an appointment between The Nation and the VC,
but it never materialised.
Following three weeks of intense pressure, Mrs
Legbo told The Nation that the VC said he would
not speak on the issue because of the court case.
“Speaking about the case is unethical and to that
effect, the VC said he will not comment on the
issue,†Mrs Legbo told The Nation in a text
message.
Mukaila filed the case against FUT Minna and
eight other defendants, claiming he did not
commit the offence under which he was being
expelled. He is therefore, praying the court to
declare the expulsion null and void.
Last Thursday, the case was mentioned at the
Federal High Court Minna. However, the university
lawyer did not show up, and the presiding judge,
Justice Ali Aliyu, adjourned the matter to Monday
February 4.
The case filed by Mukaila read inter alia: “A
declaration that the decision to expel and the
expulsion of the plaintiff from the university is
fraught with manifest irregularities and an abuse
of academic powers by the Senate of the first
defendant.â€
“The plaintiff is seeking an order of the court to
set aside his expulsion, an order of the court
directing the defendants to absorb the plaintiff for
the purpose of completing his PhD degree and the
sum of N1 million for general damages for the
emotional and mental torture and injury inflicted
to the feeling, dignity and pride of the plaintiff.
The plaintiff claimed that, “like any other student
of the first defendant, both at undergraduate and
post graduate levels are allowed to use other
person’s materials and must be within the
university tolerable limit of 10 per cent.
“The first defendant set maximum tolerance limit
for similarity index also called ‘Turn-It -In’. PhD
degree students are allowed 10 per cent.
Source: thenationonlineng.net/plagiarism-row-futminna/
