NON-ACADEMIC STAFF THREATEN TO JOIN STRIKE OVER TWO MONTHS’ UNPAID SALARIES, IMPERILING RESUMPTION AND CONVOCATION

The crisis gripping Ondo State’s tertiary education sector has intensified as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) chapter, has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike. This imminent industrial action would see the non-academic staff joining the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has already suspended academic activities since August over similar grievances.

The union has warned that the mass withdrawal of services by both academic and non-academic staff would completely paralyze the university, effectively halting the planned resumption of students and disrupting the institution’s forthcoming convocation ceremony.

Speaking through the Chairman of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) in AAUA, Comrade Olutayo Ogungbeni, SSANU members are being owed more than two months’ salaries, with the last payment received in July. The non-academic staff demands are extensive, including the immediate payment of August and September 2025 salaries, as well as a backlog of 54 months’ arrears of 2019, 18 months of the 25%/35% salary increment, and promotion arrears spanning three years.

Ogungbeni accused the Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa-led administration of reneging on promises made in June 2025 to settle arrears and increase the monthly subvention. He stressed that the current inadequate funding provided by the state government makes it impossible for the university to meet its salary obligations or fully implement the 2024 National Minimum Wage for all workers.

“We have been patient and tolerant for a long time, but this time, we won’t be again. Our people have been pushed to the wall,” Ogungbeni stated, lamenting that staff had been forced to endure “unbearable hardship.”

In response to the escalating crisis, the Ondo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, affirmed that the government had not abandoned the institution and was actively engaging with the unions to resolve the dispute. Despite the assurance, the threat of a full-blown industrial action hangs heavy over AAUA, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the academic calendar and the future of thousands of students.