Affected workers who were illegally sacked in 2019 by the Management of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) have not been reinstated by Governor John Kayode Fayemi-led government, the workers have cried out.
It will be recalled that following the ruling of the Ado Ekiti Division of the Appeal Court on 28th March and 4th April 2022, the management of Ekiti State University met with the workers and their legal representatives and reached an agreement on immediate reinstatement.
A document obtained from the Court which was made available to newmen in Ado-Ekiti recently and which detailed the agreement reached, reads in part: ” Following the judgment at the Ado-Ekiti division of the Appeal Court on March 28, the Management of the Ekiti State University met with the judgment creditors and their counsel on April 4th and April 22, 2022 and reached the wherein the following agreement:
That the University management is prepared to abide by the judgment of the court and welcome the judgment creditors back to work.
That for the purposes of their administrative convenience, the University agreed to write letters for re-absorption immediately following the court’s intervention without loss of promotion and allowances.
That salaries would henceforth be prepared starting from April 2022.”
Meanwhile, the workers said that the EKSU management has yet to fulfill the agreement reached two months after.
One of the workers, who pleaded anonymity, said: “unfortunately, the university has failed till date to meet up with any of the agreed terms as shown in their refusal to issue letters of reinstatement despite the availability of essential workers even during the ongoing national strike and payment of April 2022 salary that was paid to the University staff on Thursday 9th June 2022.
“The University has also given unfounded and flimsy excuses for their failure to meet with the agreements at the meetings. But with the payment of April salary on Thursday 9th June 2022 and the ongoing of collection of NYSC call-up letter on campus, Ekiti State University management will be hypocritical to use the ongoing national strike as excuse for failing to fulfill their promises to these judgment creditors.”
It was also gathered that the delay could not be unconnected with the politics of deception being allegedly played by the ruling party, which may have asked the school management to admit the judgment, promise the creditors just to deceive them till the June 18 gubernatorial election is over, only to turn back and disappoint the affected workers after the election.
Other speculations have it that Governor John Kayode Fayemi may not be aware of the failure of the institution to honour the judgment as agreed. This faction speculates that a fallout between the university governing council Chairman and the Vice Chancellor may have caused the delay in implementing the judgment as all efforts by the VC to obtain an express council approval from the chairman proves abortive.
It was also gathered that the union leaders of the institution are equally not helping matters as they may have been compromised.
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