Ondo students give Aiyedatiwa 14 days to resolve ongoing strike

By Boye Oyeyemi

Students of state-owned universities in Ondo State have given Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa 14 days to resolve the ongoing industrial dispute with university workers or face renewed protests.

The ultimatum was issued on Monday by the National Association of Nigerian Students Joint Campus Committee, Ondo State, after students suspended a planned demonstration in Akure following an intervention by the national leadership of NANS.

The students are protesting the prolonged disruption of academic activities at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, and the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, where workers’ unions are currently on strike.

NANS-JCC Chairman in the state, Mayomi Adeboye, said the protest was suspended after the NANS national president informed the students that Aiyedatiwa was taking steps to address the demands of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and other unions.

Adeboye said the students had agreed to give the government two weeks to restore normal academic activities, stressing that they had suffered the consequences of a dispute in which they played no part.

“We want to use this medium to beg and implore the Ondo State governor to please put the interest of the students at heart. We have been home for too long,” he said.

He disclosed that some students had missed major opportunities because of the strike, including an alleged $67,000 scholarship opportunity lost by one student because his university was not in session. He warned that failure to resolve the dispute would lead to fresh protests, with NANS potentially mobilising students nationwide to Ondo.

In their remarks, the AAUA Students’ Union President, Folagbade Ayoola, described the prolonged closure as unbearable, while his UNIMED counterpart, Adekunle Samuel, said the students had demonstrated their commitment to dialogue by suspending the planned protest.