Workers in Ondo State’s public tertiary institutions are set to hold a mass protest during the May Day celebration in response to the state government’s failure to implement the approved 2025 budgetary allocations and the new national minimum wage.
The Joint Action Committee of Ondo State-Owned Tertiary Institutions (JAC-ODSTI) announced the planned protest in a statement signed by Chairman Comrade A. Olutayo Ogungbeni and Secretary Comrade Kunle Akinwonmi. The protest follows the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum given to Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, which the government did not address.
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The union expressed frustration, highlighting that some tertiary institutions in Ondo State are still paying a minimum wage of N18,000, while their counterparts in other southwestern states are paying N70,000 in line with the new national minimum wage. The union also pointed out that Ekiti State had significantly increased its budgetary allocations to its tertiary institutions and implemented the new wage without financial difficulties, despite not being an oil-producing state.
The union further emphasized that their 14-day ultimatum, which ended on April 21, 2025, had been ignored by the state government. Despite multiple attempts to engage the governor through his Special Adviser on Union Matters, these efforts were unsuccessful.
JAC-ODSTI warned that if the government fails to take action within another seven days, it will shut down Adekunle Ajasin University, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, the University of Medical Sciences, and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic. Their demands include payment of over 54 months of wage arrears, the release of withheld subventions from January 2017, dissolution of governing councils, the reopening of Akungba University’s gate, and the release of pending pensions and gratuities.
