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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

Ekiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, funding

From The Punch · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Workers at Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology in Ekiti State warned that they could strike over poor welfare and inadequate funding.
  • Three unions blamed insufficient government subvention and the absence of a state capital grant since the university was established in 2020.
  • The unions appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji to increase funding, citing higher wage costs under the 2025/2026 salary agreement.

Workers at Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, say they have reached the point where silence is no longer an option as financial pressure and poor welfare threaten to trigger industrial action.

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, and National Association of Academic Technologists made the warning through their Joint Action Committee at a press conference in Ikere-Ekiti. The unions said the university’s subvention remains grossly insufficient and that staff welfare has deteriorated.

We have reached the point where silence is no longer an option.

— Tope BabalolaThe BOUESTI SSANU chairman warned that workers could take industrial action after talks with management and the state government failed to produce results.

BOUESTI SSANU Chairman Tope Babalola said discussions with the university management and attempts to secure a meeting with the Ekiti State Government had produced no result. The unions attributed the institution’s financial difficulties to the government’s failure to review its subvention over the years and its failure to provide any capital grant since the university’s creation in 2020.

The increasing federal allocations accruing to Ekiti State have not been matched by a corresponding increase in the financial support being provided to the university.

— Joint Action Committee of the unionsThe unions argued that state support for the university had not kept pace with higher federal allocations.

Babalola said the university had relied on Tertiary Education Trust Fund support and students’ fees for development. While acknowledging TETFund’s intervention, he said it could not replace the state government’s responsibility to fund its university. The unions also argued that rising federal allocations to Ekiti State had not brought a corresponding increase in support for BOUESTI.

They appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji to urgently raise the university’s monthly subvention. The unions said the request had become more pressing because the implementation of the signed 2025/2026 salary agreement for academic and non-academic staff had increased the institution’s wage bill.

The university has never received a capital grant from Ekiti State Government since its creation.

— Tope BabalolaBabalola described the university’s reliance on TETFund and student fees for development.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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