Ekiti varsity students cry out as ASUU strike enters third month ‎

Some students of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, have appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the university authorities to resolve the lingering industrial crisis in the institution.

Some of the students told the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Ado Ekiti that they had become uncomfortable as the strike has entered the third month.

The university lecturers embarked on an indefinite strike at the end of December 2017, on issues bordering on staff welfare and under-funding.

A cross-section of the students, some of who should have graduated, as well as returning and newly-admitted students, said they were tired of staying at home.

A student, Mr. Solomon Adewale, said except the matter is settled on time, there is a tendency that the students might miss a whole semester.

Another student, Mr Gboyega Akinola, urged  ASUU and the school authorities to shift ground.

Akinola said both the school authorities and the lecturers should consider the future and plight of the students who bear the consequence of the strike.

The chairman of ASUU in the university, Prof. Olufayo Olu, said the strike was embarked upon as a result of unpaid salaries and poor funding by the state government.

Olu said that only N260m was released as monthly subvention to the institution, as against the about N500m required.

According to him, efforts made by the unions to make the state government understand the financial position of the institution and the need to be pro-active about it did not yield positive result.

“For instance, our several demands for increased subvention to the university and improved welfare of workers have always been treated with disdain.

“As I speak with you, we have not received “Academic Allowances’’ for six years.

“The management, at a time, paid some of us the allowances of 2011 to 2014 by borrowing N200m from the bank. I do not know how others will get theirs with this paucity of fund.

“The university currently has a wage bill of N455m, so there is little we can do with a paltry sum of N260m monthly subvention from the government.

“Our university has not got any of such subventions for some months. As a result, the university has always been borrowing to pay net salary.

“To further compound our situation, within the last one year, the total number of additional workers has almost caught up with total number of employees of the institution since its inception in 1982.

“This is without increase in budgetary allocation to the institution.

“The consequences of poor funding and such unregulated employment have contributed largely to irregular payment of salaries, poor research, and poor learning environment.

“Other consequences are increased health casualties, epileptic power supply, inability to pass accreditation, staff and students’ increased agitations, among others.’’

He said ASUU and other unions of the university would not return to work until all the demands are met.

According to him, the strike began after ASUU and other unions of the university lost four of their members due to unpaid salaries and inability to maintain their families.

Olu sympathised with the students for missing classes, saying the unions had, in the past, cooperated with the management, thinking that the opportunity offered by the unions would be well appreciated.

Reacting, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Samuel Oye-Bandele, said the management was not losing sight of the plight of the students.

Oye-Bandele gave an assurance that everything humanly possible was being done to bring the strike to an end.

NAN reports that the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, National Association of Technologies and Allied Matters had earlier embarked on strike.

The strike became effective in December 2017 when ASUU joined the other three unions to press home their demands.