Staff of Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions have raised the alarm over worsening hunger and hardship, calling on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to implement the 2025 approved budgetary allocations within 14 days or face a possible shutdown of academic activities.
In a letter, the Joint Action Committee of Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions (JAC-ODSTID) said their members have been excluded from the 2024 National Minimum Wage being paid to other civil servants, leaving them in severe economic distress.
The affected institutions are Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; University of Medical Sciences, Ondo; and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo.
“We write to call the attention of the State Government to the pathetic condition of living of the entire staff of the Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions,” the committee stated.
“It is no longer a news that the State Government had implemented the 2024 National Minimum Wage to all the core civil servants and those in the MDAs except the four State Owned Tertiary Institutions due to the failure of the Government to implement the 2025 approved budgetary allocations to these institutions.”
“We have previously written to the State Government through our communique with Ref. No: JAC/ODSTI/023 dated 7th February, 2025 on our plights and agitations and even met with the Special Adviser to the Governor and Special Duties for his intervention but all our efforts proved abortive.”
“For avoidance of doubt, our agitations include: Immediate implementation of the approved 2025 Budgetary Allocations to all the State Tertiary institutions. Implementation of the 2024 National Minimum Wage to all the staff in the state-owned institutions.”
Other demands include the release of withheld subventions from January 2017, payment of 54 months of the 2019 minimum wage arrears, and seven months’ unpaid salaries at Rufus Giwa Polytechnic.
JAC-ODSTID also demanded dissolution of all existing governing councils, reopening of Adekunle Ajasin University’s main gate, and the final tranche of the wage award.
They warned that failure to act within 14 days “could cause industrial disharmony and unstable academic calendar in the various tertiary institutions in Ondo State.”
The letter reads in parts; “We write to call the attention of the State Government to the pathetic condition of living of the entire staff of the Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions.
“It is no longer a news that the State Government had implemented the 2024 National Minimum Wage to all the core civil servants and those in the MDAs except the four State Owned Tertiary Institutions due to the failure of the Government to implement the 2025 approved budgetary allocations to these institutions, namely; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; University of Medical Sciences and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo.
“Immediate implementation of the approved 2025 Budgetary Allocations to all the State Tertiary institutions.
“Implementation of the 2024 National Minimum Wage to all the staff in the state-owned institutions.
“Release of the January, 2017 withheld monthly subventions to all the institutions.”
