By Rotimi Ojomoyela

Ado-Ekiti—Academic and sundry activities were yesterday paralysed at the Ekiti State University, EKSU, Ado-Ekiti, workers led by their union leaders   protested over non-payment of six-month subventions, salary arrears as well as cooperative deductions among others.

The aggrieved workers prevented vehicular and human movement in and out of the institution as they barricaded the gate, forcing vehicle owners to park outside.

According to them, the management had only been able to pay 20% of the staff’s salary arrears since March this year.

The unions, who participated in the protest include National Association of Technologists, NAT, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, among others.

They maintained that the management had failed to live up to its responsibilities due to the failure of the state government to pay subventions since January.

Speaking, Chairman of SSANU, Mr. Kolapo Olatunde, said: “the state government released the universities’ subvention last in December last year, which means since January, we have not been getting the subventions.

”The government has erroneously believed that the management takes care of the full salary payment without the subvention but the reality is that we have only been receiving 20% of our salaries since January till date and the deductions were not remitted into the accounts of the cooperative societies on campus.” We also heard that the state  government is not putting EKSU in the agenda of bailout from the federal government given erroneous impression that all is well with us, whereas we have been suffering in silence.”

Chairman of NAT, Engineer Awogbemi Omobola, attributed the non-payment of the staff’s full salary to the fact that the institution has exhausted all its available resources to pay net salaries of workers. He said: “The institution has even been struggling to augment the payment of 20% of salary with N250 million monthly from the IGR. We have remained patient with the management because it has been trying, but with this protest, we want to tell Ekiti and the world that they should not allow the institution to collapse as this is the only asset the state has.

Mr. Tope Akanmu, the institution’s NASU chairman who itemized their demands, urged the government to resume the payment of monthly subvention to the institution and also include it in the bailout scheme from the federal government.

He lamented that despite series of letters written to the state government prior to the last convocation in June, nothing has been done to alleviate the suffering of the institution’s staff, “ he said.