ASUU threathen to embark on strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities branch in the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, has threatened a showdown with the management if gross salary arrears of April, May and June, 2017, are not paid for the Christmas celebration.

The Chairman, Prof. Olu Olufayo, lamented that some of the union members had died because they could not afford proper medical care due to the unpaid salaries.

According to him, EKSU’s standard has been below par in the last few years due to poor funding by the state government, stating that only N260m is released monthly as government subvention instead of N600m.

Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti, Olufayo lamented that the members of staff had been placed on half salaries in the last one year, describing the scenario as appalling and disturbing in an ideal university setting.

The ASUU chairman stated, “As I speak with you, we have not received Earned Academic Allowance for six years. The management just paid some of us that of 2011 to 2014 by borrowing a sum of N200m from the bank. I don’t know how others will get theirs with this paucity of fund.

“The university has a wage bill of N455m; so, there is little we can do with a paltry sum of N260m monthly subvention from the government. Even, our university has not got any for about six months. The university has always been borrowing to pay net salaries.

“Within the last one year, the total number of additional workers has almost caught up with total number of employees since inception in 1982 without increment in budgetary allocation to the institution.

“The consequences of poor funding and unregulated employment have been irregular payment of salaries, poor research, poor learning environment, increased health casualties, epileptic power supply, the inability to pass accreditation, and staff and students’ agitations among others.”

Olufayo added, “Only God will know the fate of the university by the time we have full-fledged College of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry.

“Not minding the above, the lecturers have been working assiduously to bring the university to an enviable world-class standard by all known means, a mission seemingly impossible.”

He commended the national leadership of the union for intervening in the crisis rocking the university as well as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund for executing meaningful projects in the institution.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )