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From WOLE BALOGUN, Ado-Ekiti
Non-accademic staff of the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Monday, disrupted the orientation programme for freshers into the institution with fierce protest of alleged non-payment of their salaries and other entitlements.
Parents and guardians of the fresh students who accompanied their wards were disappointed when they met the main gate under lock and key, courtesy of the protesting staff.
The protest, led by the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of
Nigerian University(SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) started
at about 7:00am at the main gate of the university, as the angry staff shut down administrative activities and prevented their colleagues, both
academic and non-academic from gaining accesss into the premises.
The protest later spilled to the heart of town, where the placard-carrying staff chanted solidarity songs to deride the Vice Chancellor, Prof Kayode Soremekun and threatening to make the university ungovernable if their demands were not met.
Some academic staff who forced their way into premises were harassed by
the rampaging workers, branding them as betrayers partners in
struggle.
Some of their allegations included : non-promotion of staff as and
when due, improper placement of staff in their areas of
specialization, illegal ICT deduction, perpetration of illegal
employment, non-remittance of unions’ check off dues, withholding of
Hazard Allowance, Arbitrary award of contracts, Victimization of
Staff, among others.
The Chairmen of SSANU and NASU, Coms Ademola Mutiu and
Adebayo Dada respectively, accused the Vice Chancellor and the management team of taking a sum of N2 million to celebrate the Christmas and New Year festivities, when two
months salaries were being owed.
Mutiu said: “It was bad that an institution that claims not to have
money had to secretly employed about 500 workers and used the lean
internally revenue to pay them. We held two meetings with the
management in November that IGR should be used to pay some of our
allowances, but this illegal employment didn’t allow this agreement to
work.
“Before the end of last year, two months salaries were owed and in
spite of this the members of the management took N2 million each for
the festivities. This was the highest point of wickedness and
insensitivity”, he said.
His counterpart in NASU, Com. Dada added that the university charged a
tuition fee of N132,000 making it the most expensive university in
Nigeria, querying why the institution was still ranting over paucity
of funds while also receiving this outrageous amount.
“Today, FUOYE is charging a sum of N50,000 per bed space in its
hostels and there are about six students in a room. I see no reason
why this institution always complain about lack of fund to pay our
allowances.
“All these must stop . And we are warning that we are not going to
resume work until all our entitlements and other demands are met”, he
said.
