Workers in Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions have given Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa a two-week ultimatum to implement outstanding agreements, warning of a total shutdown of the state’s universities and polytechnics if their demands are not met.
Workers in Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions have issued Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa a 14-day ultimatum to implement the 2026 agreements reached between the Federal Government and university and polytechnic-based unions, threatening a total shutdown of the institutions if their demands are not met.
The ultimatum was issued under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) in Ondo State tertiary institutions, known as JAC-ODSTI.
The unions said the ultimatum took effect from August 13, 2026, and warned that failure by the state government to meet their demands would trigger what they described as “the mother of all industrial actions” in the state’s education sector.
Speaking after the meeting, JAC chairman Olutayo Ogungbeni said workers had exhausted their patience after years of poor funding, salary arrears and unfavourable working conditions. “For more than two years, our members have endured salary arrears, poor funding, and working conditions that no longer reflect the dignity of labour. We cannot continue this way,” he said. He added, “The governor has done well in some areas. But we need action, not more promises. If by August 27 nothing is done, then we will have no choice but to down tools.”
The unions also alleged that some outgoing council members had used their positions for personal benefit rather than contributing to institutional development.
A strike could affect academic and administrative activities at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA); the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED); the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH); Rufus Giwa Polytechnic; and the Ondo State College of Education.
The latest ultimatum adds to months of mounting tension between organised labour and the Ondo State Government over the non-implementation of nationally negotiated agreements. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure Zone, had earlier accused the state government of failing to implement the financial components of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, which took effect from January 1, 2026, and provides for allowances including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance and Earned Academic Allowances. The zonal coordinator noted that Ondo, as an oil-producing state benefiting from the 13 per cent derivation fund, had the financial capacity to implement the agreement.
ASUU has said its agitation was driven partly by the fact that the salary structure agreed under the 2025 ASUU/Federal Government agreement had already been implemented in federal universities and many other state-owned institutions, including FUTA, EKSU and BOUESTI, leaving lecturers in Ondo feeling shortchanged.
Lecturers at AAUA had already embarked on an indefinite strike beginning July 10, 2026, over unpaid salaries, with the union’s chairman warning that the salary crisis was “just the beginning” and demanding payment of arrears dating back to January 2026. The union noted that although the state government reportedly approved a N1.1 billion intervention fund to offset outstanding salaries, the money had yet to reflect in workers’ accounts.
More broadly, ASUU has also threatened a “total, comprehensive, and indefinite industrial action” affecting universities in Edo, Ondo and Delta States over the same unimplemented agreement, warning that “peace without justice is a mirage.”
Separately, labour unions in Ondo State have also issued a seven-day ultimatum to the management of the Federal University of Technology Akure Teaching Hospital (FUTATH), threatening an indefinite strike over alleged violations of workers’ rights, including incomplete enrolment of transitioned staff on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)
With the latest 14-day ultimatum set to expire on August 27, the coming weeks will determine whether Ondo State’s tertiary institutions face a full-scale shutdown or whether the state government moves to implement the outstanding agreements and forestall what unions have described as their most severe industrial action yet.
