A governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, Mr. Kayode Ojo, has tasked Governor Ayodele Fayose to urgently intervene in the lingering industrial action at the Ekiti State University in Ado-Ekiti.
The branches of both the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities in the institution are currently on strike, thus technically shutting down EKSU.
The APC governorship aspirant said that the development was a big dent on the image of Ekiti, a state that prides itself as the fountain of knowledge.
Ojo said it was unthinkable that academic activities could be put on hold at Ekiti’s premier educational institution for over three months without the relevant authorities taking any concrete action to end the strike by the workers.
Lamenting the situation, Ojo said the recurring strikes by the academic and non-academic workers of EKSU, “owing to the failure of the state government to adequately cater for their welfare”, had become worrisome to all well-meaning indigenes of Ekiti.
He said, “This is one industrial action too many in our premier institution, and for a state that prides itself as the fountain of knowledge. While it may be true that government is facing certain challenges, it is also clear that the state government has not demonstrated enough compassion and willingness to do its best to assuage the feelings of the hungry lecturers and other workers.
“Governor Fayose should not sit by and watch the state university languish in academic quandary, without caring a hoot about the negative effects it will have on nurturing and building up the young minds who are students of the citadel of learning. For the umpteenth time, the varsity’s academic calendar is now being forced to get altered; a situation that is not healthy for the optimum knowledge acquisition needed to make the university compete favourably with its peers across the globe.”
The governorship aspirant also advised the governor to, in the few months left for him to spend in office, dedicate himself to offsetting arrears of workers’ salaries, having collected in the last one year, Federal grants like the Paris Club Refund and bailout funds, issued to distressed states by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“This is not the time for buck passing or playing of politics on the suffering of our hardworking civil servants in Ekiti. The governor cannot pretend to be awarding any new contracts now, and so, he should dedicate himself to offsetting the arrears of workers’ salaries. Leaving the salary
debt for the coming administration to inherit will amount to a bad legacy,” Ojo counselled.
