SSANU Rejects Proposed Ondo Varsity, Non-payment Of Workers’ Salaries

Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has condemned the proposed establishment of another university by the Ondo State government while the existing ones are underfunded and university workers are owed over ten months’ salaries.

The chairman of SSANU-AAUA and JAC-ODSTI, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko chapter, Comrade Tayo Ogungbeni, stated this in a statement he issued yesterday

The state government had said the move was in line with the federal government’s directive that all polytechnics should either be converted to universities or be affiliated with existing ones.

Briefing newsmen on the development, the commissioner for education, Femi Agagu, said the polytechnic would be upgraded to the University of Management Sciences and Technology.

In his reaction, Ogungbeni said, “Let me congratulate all members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) for bidding the year 2022 farewell successfully, a year of torment and hunger.

“We shall never forget the year 2022 in a hurry. God has confirmed through the happenings in the year 2022 that He is our sustenance and provider.

“We are entering the new year with arrears of salaries ranging between four and 10 months in Ondo State Tertiary institutions.

“Almost four years after the implementation of the New National Minimum Wage in Nigeria, none of the tertiary institutions in our Ondo State has implemented it for its workforce. Are we not part of Nigeria anymore?