The staff of Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State on Thursday trooped to the streets to protest alleged victimization and high handedness by the Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. Isaac Azuzu.
The aggrieved staff, who carried placards with different inscriptions condemning the vice chancellor, also accused the university boss of non-payment of allowances and non-remittance of tax deducted from their salaries to the appropriate quarters.
The staff, who began the action as early as 7am, made bonfire on the Ado-Lokoja-Abuja federal highway, which runs through the town, holding vehicles and commuters hostage for several hours.
Also, roads leading to the university and the main gate were blocked, thereby preventing top management staff and visitors into the school.
One of the academic staff, a PhD holder, who addressed journalists, but pleaded not to be named, because the staff are yet to unionise until after five years of the establishment of the school, alleged that the vice chancellor and the bursar had been denying the staff of several allowances such as relocation and hazard.
The university was among the nine federal universities established by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
Urging the Federal Government to wade in and investigate the financial books of the school, the spokesman threatened that they would make the university ungovernable for Asuzu, who was also accused of deducting outrageous tax from their salaries without remitting same to the appropriate quarters.
According to the spokesman, the university had not effected any mass promotion for workers since it was established, while the few done were selective.
He said: “No to anti-transformational agenda.
“Oye/Ido/Osi axis is volatile politically in the history of the country, but we are for President Jonathan.
“That is why we want him to wade into this matter without delay.
“Under normal circumstances, each senior staff ought to receive between N1.2 million to N1.5 million as relocation allowance as introduced by the Federal Government in 2007.
“But we were only paid N252,000 in three instalments when our agitations were becoming so deafening.
“On the issue of hazard allowance, Ekiti State University has been enjoying it since 2008, but we were denied on the basis that the Federal University, Akure was not paying.
“But nothing has so far been done even when FUTA has started paying.
“To end all these problems, we call on the university to implement the recommendations of the Prof. Aganga committee, which stated that tax must no longer be based on consolidation but be worked based on basic salaries of all workers and the excess deductions must be refunded to all workers without delay.
“Again, the National Housing Scheme, which the management has mandated should be made optional, while all allowances being paid in Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State and in Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State and other Federal Universities established in 2011 should be paid without delay.”
A security man at the gate of the school said the vice chancellor was not available on the campus, adding that he and other senior staff fled as soon as they heard of the severity of the protest.
Efforts to reach him on the phone were also not successful as his telephone returned switched off.
Another protester, Ojo Sylvanus Foluso, who also spoke, lamented that the management of the school was cheating them, adding that their invitation to anti-graft agencies to probe the books of the school fell on deaf ears as the agencies are yet to respond.
Foluso said the vice chancellor would return a sum of N400 million to the Federal Ministry of Education as unspent subvention for 2014 this December, even when workers are languishing in suffering.
He said: “It has been an established practice that the university gets 30 per cent of any unspent amount returned to the Federal Government.
“So what they are trying to do is to get the money and spend, not minding whether we are made to suffer or not.”