AAUA lecturers gain a potential route to immediate pay after Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa approved ₦1.1bn to clear outstanding salaries and push for an end to the campus strike.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities began a fresh industrial action on 10 July, demanding payment of unpaid wages and the implementation of negotiated agreements. ASUU says its members at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko are owed three months, May, June and July.
Ebenezer Adeniyan, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, said the governor approved a ₦1.1bn Special Intervention Fund for the university, intended to offset salary arrears and halt the dispute. Aiyedatiwa has directed the Ministry of Finance and University management to release and disburse the money promptly, and has called on the unions to suspend the strike and return to classrooms in the interest of students and institutional development, the statement said.
ASUU at AAUA, however, framed the payment of arrears as necessary but insufficient. The union wants the Ondo State Government to implement the 2025 Federal Government/ASUU agreement as well. Boluwaji Oshodi, AAUA ASUU chairman, said the union has been told funds reached university management, but members will not suspend the strike until they receive salary alerts. He added the government has not engaged the union directly, only university officials.
The university’s Deputy Registrar for Information, Protocol and Public Relations, Sola Imoru, confirmed the governor approved a special intervention to help the institution meet its financial obligations. ASUU’s caution reflects a recent history: lecturers walked out in August last year in a four-month strike over unpaid salaries, a dispute that lasted until November after an understanding with the state government.
What happens next hinges on two actions, both now in the hands of state officials, the university and the union: the Ministry of Finance and university management must deliver the disbursements, and ASUU members must receive and verify their salary alerts before any suspension of the strike.
