ASUU Blasts Ondo Government Over 30-Day Strike Paralysing Three State Universities

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, has condemned the Ondo State Government over a continuing strike that has paralysed academic activities in three state-owned universities for more than 30 days, accusing the government of deliberately delaying implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement.

The industrial action, now in its second month, has disrupted academic activities at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA); Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa (OAUSTECH); and the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED).

ASUU said the crisis was a direct result of the state government's alleged failure to take decisive steps toward implementing the agreement, while also accusing it of gross underfunding of the three institutions.

The union made its position known in a statement issued by the Zonal Coordinator of the Benin Zone, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, at Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, and made available to journalists in Benin City.

According to the union, students at the affected universities had remained at home for over 30 days as a result of the strike, even as other states, including Edo and Delta, were taking active steps to implement the agreement within their own state-owned universities. ASUU alleged that the Edo and Delta state governments had already approved implementation of the agreement from September 2026, including the payment of arrears owed to university workers dating back to January 2026, a contrast the union used to highlight what it described as Ondo's comparative inaction.

The union described the continued industrial dispute in Ondo State as "provocative and unjust," insisting that academic staff at the three institutions should not be made to bear the consequences of what it characterised as government inaction. ASUU further warned that sustained underfunding, combined with a failure to honour agreed terms, could undermine the overall quality and stability of university education within the state, cautioning that prolonged neglect of these issues carries risks extending well beyond the immediate disruption to students' academic calendars.

In light of these concerns, ASUU called on the Federal Government, particularly the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC), to intervene directly in the dispute and prevail on the Ondo State governor, who serves as Visitor to the three universities, to address the union's grievances and resolve the impasse.

The Ondo dispute adds to a broader, ongoing wave of ASUU-related industrial disputes affecting state-owned universities across Nigeria in recent weeks, many of them tied to varying paces of implementation for the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement at the state level. Similar disputes have recently played out at institutions including Nasarawa State University, Keffi; Imo State University, Owerri; and Plateau State University, with ASUU branches at each institution declaring indefinite strikes over closely related grievances, chiefly non-implementation of the agreement and unpaid wage award arrears. In some of these cases, state governments have moved swiftly to resolve disputes, as seen recently in Kaduna State, where Governor Uba Sani reportedly met ASUU's demands and urged lecturers at Kaduna State University to end their own strike action.

The pattern across these various disputes reflects a broader, persistent friction between the union and different state governments over the pace and consistency with which federally negotiated welfare agreements are implemented at the state level, disputes that have repeatedly disrupted academic calendars at Nigerian public universities throughout 2026. For Ondo State specifically, ASUU's comparison with Edo and Delta's swifter implementation appears designed to increase pressure on the state government to match its neighbours' pace, rather than continue what the union describes as an unjust delay affecting thousands of students across the three affected institutions.

As of the time of this report, the Ondo State Government had not issued a public response to ASUU's allegations, leaving the strike's duration, and the timeline for resumption of academic activities across AAUA, OAUSTECH, and UNIMED, uncertain.