Students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, on Thursday took to the streets to protest the 68-day industrial action by workers’ unions and demand the immediate reopening of the institution.
The students barricaded the university’s main gate along the Owo-Ikare Expressway, displaying placards with inscriptions such as, “Every pending graduate, shey na our lives be these?”, “NASU, NAAT, SSANU have joined strike” and “Enough is Enough.”
They called on the Ondo State Government and other stakeholders to urgently resolve the issues behind the strike and ensure that academic activities resume without further delay.
Speaking during the protest, the President of the Students’ Union Government, Folagbade Ayoola, said the students had reached their limit and could no longer remain silent over the prolonged closure.
Ayoola expressed concern that students were being required to pay school fees while lecturers’ salaries remained unpaid, adding that several meetings and promises had failed to produce a lasting solution.
“We cannot keep silent because we are really facing challenges in our university. Imagine students having to pay school fees while lecturers’ salaries are not being paid,” he said.
According to him, the Academic Staff Union of Universities had presented its demands to the government, but the failure to secure the necessary response eventually led to the commencement of the indefinite strike.
He said the students would continue to use legitimate means to press for a resolution until the industrial action was called off.
The SUG General Secretary, Oluwatimileyin Amos, said the prolonged stay-at-home was causing hardship and uncertainty for students, particularly those approaching graduation.
“We have been on strike for 68 days now and something needs to be done. We need an immediate resolution and action because our students are suffering,” Amos said.
The industrial action followed demands by unions in Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions for the implementation of the Federal Government-unions agreement on workers’ welfare.
The unions involved include the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
Meanwhile, the Ondo State Government said it had paid the outstanding balance of the August arrears of the new subvention to state-owned tertiary institutions.
In a statement issued on Thursday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ebenezer Adeniyan, the government said the payment marked the commencement of the implementation of a 60 per cent increase in subventions to the institutions.
According to the government, the increase was aimed at meeting salary obligations and improving the welfare of university workers.
The statement partly read, “This payment marks the commencement of the implementation of the 60 per cent increment on subventions to the institutions, aimed at meeting up with salary obligations and improving welfare.
“Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa therefore appeals to the striking unions of the institutions to, in good faith, call off the strike and return to work in the interest of our students and the overall development of the state.”
