OAUSTECH staff protest over non-payment of minimum wage and wage awards

News Agency Of Nigeria 13:35 - 23 January 2024

Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State [Tribune Online]

Academic and commercial activities were disrupted on Tuesday as staff of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State, protested over the non-implementation of minimum wage and wage awards.

Academic and commercial activities were disrupted on Tuesday as staff of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State, protested over the non-implementation of minimum wage and wage awards.

The staff are: Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Unions and Allied Educational Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) staged the protest against what they described as injustice.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the institution’s gate was locked, while the protest caused gridlock on the Okitipupa-Igbokoda expressway as protesters blocked part of the expressway.

NAN also reports that the staff sang solidarity songs and carried placards with various inscriptions like: “We are workers not slaves”, “No discrimination in wage award payment”, “We have not been paid minimum wage since 2019”, “Ayedatiwa, release our subvention” among others.

Temidayo Temola, Chairman of the Joint Action Congress (JAC) of the unions, while addressing newsmen said that the protest was in line with JAC of tertiary institutions in the state. He said that it was an injustice for the state government not to implement the minimum wage of ₦30,000 since 2019.

He said that payment of the wage award of ₦35,000 was sectional, as university workers in the state were not paid, adding that the institution’s subvention was drastically reduced and “yet was delayed.”