Ekiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, funding

Workers of the Ekiti State Government-owned Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, have bemoaned what they described as the worrisome state of staff welfare and the institution’s financial situation.

The workers, comprising members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and National Association of Academic Technologists, spoke under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee of the unions in Ikere-Ekiti on Wednesday.

The unions blamed the situation on the failure of the government to review the subvention to the institution over the years and the absence of a capital grant since its establishment.

They appealed for urgent intervention to prevent the workers from embarking on industrial action.

BOUESTI SSANU Chairman, Tope Babalola, who spoke at a press conference jointly addressed by the unions, expressed concern that engagements with the management and requests for an audience with the state government had failed to yield results.

He said the workers had “reached the point where silence is no longer an option”.

The unions said they were concerned that “the increasing federal allocations accruing to Ekiti State have not been matched by a correspondence increase in the financial support being provided to the university”.

Babalola, who said the institution had been relying on the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and students’ school fees for development since the creation of BOUESTI in 2020, said, “The university has never received a capital grant from Ekiti State Government since its creation.

“While we appreciate the invaluable intervention of TETFund, it is important to emphasize that TETFund intervention cannot absolve the government of its responsibility to provide capital funding for its university. The university cannot develop substantially on students’ fees and external intervention alone.”

The unions, which stated that the subvention accruing to the institution was grossly insufficient, appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji “to consider the upward review of the monthly subvention to the university.

“This appeal is necessary in view of the prevailing financial realities confronting the university particularly the implementation of the signed 2025/2026 salary agreement with academic and non-academic staff which has brought up a surge in the wage bill of the university”.

Babalola, who expressed concern that the increasing federal allocations accruing to Ekiti State had not positively impacted the subvention to BOUESTI, said, “As federal resources available to Ekiti State increases, we believe that the university should receive a commensurate increase in subvention to enable it discharge its responsibilities effectively”.

He also called on the governor to redeem his promises to BOUESTI, including constructing internal roads and furnishing the Senate Building donated to the university by the Chancellor, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, saying, “We appeal to Governor Oyebanji to fulfill these commitments in the interest of the development and progress of this university”.

The unions said, “We urge the Ekiti State Government to take the present situation at our university with the seriousness it deserves. Failure to address these burning issues, workers will be left with no option than to down tools. And it will be total. We will apply the rule of engagement.

“The Ekiti State Government has consistently priced itself on the achievements in the education sector. But the real test of commitment to education is not merely the celebration of educational achievements, it is the willingness to sustain the successful running of the institutions, workers welfare and infrastructure on which those achievements depend.

“Education is perhaps the most enduring legacy any government can leave behind. A government may construct roads and buildings, but the educated human beings produced through the education system are the ones who will sustain and improve society long after that government has left office,” the workers said.