Ekiti State University on Saturday banned all labour unions and shut down the institution following protest over poor staff welfare.

 

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, university authorities have also ordered the students to vacate the campus without delay.

 

EKSU Head of Directorate of Information & Corporate Affairs, Bode Olofinmuagun reveals that the Governing Council of the university decided to close the institution to safeguard lives and property.

 

Olofinmuagun said in his statement;

 

“The Governing Council of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti announces the immediate closure of the University.

 

“All academic activities are hereby suspended.

 

“This is as a result of the continuous disruption of lawful activities on campus which have endangered lives and property in the past one week.

 

“Consequently, to guarantee peace and orderliness on campus, all the four unions, namely ASUU, SSANU, NAAT, and NASU are hereby proscribed with immediate effect.

 

“All students are advised to vacate the campus forthwith,” he said.

 

Recall that the crisis between the university authorities and workers erupted on Monday after workers of the institution across the various unions hired a live band and turned the main entrance of the institution to a party ground.

 

The workers had declared that the move was part of a strategy to press home their demands over alleged unpaid salaries and allowances, among other things.

 

Consequently, the workers’ action disabled both academic and non-academic activities on the campus as both workers and students were declined access to the campus.

Secretary of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (EKSU branch), Azeez Aguda disclosed that the members’ action would continue until the government Interferes on the university authorities to grant their demands.

 

He listed the demands to include payment of July, August, and September salaries (2018), remittance of cooperative and pension dues, and reinstatement of sacked workers, among several others.

 

The unions also accused the university authorities of reneging on the commitments of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) they signed with workers’ representatives, an event that was witnessed by members of the state’s House of Assembly in the year 2020.

 

The university authorities have reacted saying that most of the workers’ demands were made during the lifetime of the previous administration, adding that some of the demands had been addressed while others were in the process of being tackled.