Affected workers who were illegally sacked in 2019 by the Management of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) have not been reinstated by the Governor John Kayide 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 in 28th March and 4th April 2022, the management of Ekiti State University met with the workers and their legal representatives and reached 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 rhe jugdement at the Ado-Ekiti division of the Appeal Court on March 28, the Management of the Ekiti State University met with the jugdement creditors and their counsels on April 4th and April 22, 2022 and reached the wherein the following agreement:
That the University management are prepared to abide by the judgement of the court & welcomed the judgement creditors back to work.
That for the purposes of their administrative convenience, the University agreed to write letters for reabsorption immediately following the court’s intervention without loss of promotion & allowances.
that salaries would henceforth be prepared starting from April 2022.”
Meanwhile, the workers said that the EKSU management are yet to fulfill the agreement reached two months after.
One of the workers, who pleaded anonymity for fear of witchunt, 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 2022.
“The University has also given unfounded and flimsy excuses for their failure to meet with the agreements at the meetings.”
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 judgement, 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 that Governor John Kayode Fayemi may not be aware of the failure of the institution to honour the judgement as agreed. This faction speculates that a fall out between the university governing council Chairman and the Vice Chancellor may have caused the delay in implementing the judgement 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.