N410m subvention insufficient for workers’ wage bill, Ekiti varsity tells govt

The Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti (EKSU), has appealed to the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, to increase the N410 million monthly subvention to the institution, which it said is insufficient to defray the N810 million wage bill.

This is just as the university will confer honorary Doctorate degrees on three eminent personalities in Nigeria, including the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele; Dr. Zacch Adedeji, the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service; and Mansur Muhtar, the Chairman, Board of the Bank of Industry.

The Vice-Chancellor of EKSU, Professor Babalola Ayodele, who stated this yesterday in Ado Ekiti at a press conference to herald the 29th convocation ceremony of the university, said that the university is faced with many challenges, one of which is a lack of funds.

He said, “We need more money to build the Faculty of Pharmacy; we need a new Faculty of Law. We need the Department of Laboratory Science. With the implementation of the new minimum wage, our wage bill is N820 million, and the government subvention is N410 million. You can just do the arithmetic—you know what is being left.

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“We are appealing to our governor, who is a lover of progress. Our governor is an apostle of posterity, and he has been doing his best to assist the university, and he will still do more. We want to plead that, within the capacity of government, the monthly subvention be jacked up.

“We will be able to do more to enhance the human capacity of the government. We are able to supply high-level manpower to actually drive the development of the state. So, we need an upward review of the subvention.”

The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that no fewer than 37 staff members of the university have been either dismissed, suspended, or barred from holding positions of responsibility for three years for offences ranging from sexual misconduct to abandonment of duty post, among others.

He added, “Under my leadership, we have raised the bar of discipline of staff and students to an admirable level. Our administration detests all forms of malfeasance, and we have so far remained resolute in our bid to rid EKSU of all forms of impunity. I am proud to inform you that our university is progressing, and those who have been involved in one form of indiscipline or the other have been appropriately dealt with in accordance with the rules and regulations of the university.

“Decisions related to staff discipline within the last seven months of my leadership, after following due process, range from warning, termination of appointment, and suspension to dismissal.”

Meanwhile, no fewer than 200 students bagged First Class Honours degrees, 5,406 were conferred with Second Class Upper degrees, while 9,076 students made Second Class Lower Division.

“I am pleased to inform us that the university offered admission to the first set of students into the Doctor of Pharmacy programme in the 2024/2025 academic session, and these students have equally matriculated. The university is eagerly awaiting the resource visitation by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for the BDS programme, which is set to admit its first set of students in the 2025/2026 academic session,” the VC said.