Ondo Varsities Lament 12 Months Unpaid Salaries, Labour Threatens Govt

By Ayodele Oni

Ondo State owned tertiary institutions are in decay as academic and non-academic staff groan under 12 months of unpaid salaries and other emoluments.

The situation could affect the quality of graduates being produced by these institutions, education analysts say.

The affected institutions are state polytechnic, Owo; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba; (AAUA); University of Medical Science, Ondo; and Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa.

Workers of the institutions spoke at a news briefing in Akure on Tuesday, under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Ondo State owned Tertiary Institutions comprising of National Association of Academic Technologies (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) from the four Tertiary Institutions owned by Ondo State government.

Addressing newsmen through Tayo Ogungbeni, Chairman, JAC-ODSTI, the workers said that the state government is owing them 12 months salary.

“The most important of our challenges as state institutions is poor funding since the advent of this present administration in the state.

“The truth must be said, funding of our institutions was better off during the the immediate past administration.

“During this time, grants for capital projects and subventions were released as at and when due unlike what we are presently experiencing. For instance, it was during the past administration that the unique and gigantic Senate Building at AAUA was built with several roads constructed but all are now things of the past.

“It is on record that no capital grants has been released to some of the tertiary institutions in Ondo State since 2018. It is also on record that instead of increasing the monthly subventions to all the tertiary institutions in the state, the present administration reduced it drastically and this has been causing serious problems for the running of the institutions.

“Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko is presently on monthly wage bill of about #300M whereas it has been receiving a paltry sum of #148M as monthly subvention compared to a monthly subvention of #212M being released by  the immediate past Administration.

“The reduction in the subventions affected all the tertiary institutions in the state and no concrete reason was given for taking such decision.

“Today, our tertiary institutions are owing staff several outstanding salaries ranging between 4 to 12 months in arrears. The worst of the these institutions is Rufus Giwa polytechnic, Owo with outstanding salary arrears of 12 months.

“One of the components of the 2009 FGN/UNIONS Agreement was the payment of Earned Allowances to all categories of staff as approved by the FGN but it will interest you to note that many of the institutions have not started paying these allowances and where it was paid, it was paid preferentially without recourse to the agreement.

“As we speak, AAUA Management is owing our members outstanding Earned Allowances for 10 years, that is, 2009 to 2018. Some of the institutions are yet to implement the payment of Responsibility Allowance,  Excess Workload Allowance etc as at today.

“It is very unfortunate to inform Nigerians that over three years after the National Minimum Wage of #30,000 had been approved for the Nigerian workers, and over two years of its implementation to the other civil servants in Ondo State, it has not been implemented for our members in tertiary institutions. Are we not part of the Nigeria workforce?”

The workers appealed to the state government to shore up subventions to these institutions, provide adequate security, appoint competent person’s as members of governing councils not political jobbers, as well as immediate payment of minimum wage and outstanding salaries.

“We are using this opportunity to appeal to all the good people of the state, our Royal Highnesses, our Religious leaders, APC leadership at both the state and national levels that their intervention is urgently needed to resolve all the identified problems once and for all.

“If the issues are not resolved on/before the end of the on-going national strike, we may be forced to declare industrial dispute with the state government and the Management of all our tertiary institutions in the State.”