Undergraduates paralyse vehicular transit across Akungba-Akoko, demanding immediate academic resumption Students’ Union Government decries paying tuition while lecturers and non-teaching unions remain unpaid Pending final-year graduates face extended disruption as talks between state authorities and unions stall
AKUNGBA-AKOKO — Students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), on Thursday barricaded the institution’s main entrance and critical access arteries linking the university to the interstate highway, halting vehicular transit to demand an immediate end to an ongoing 68-day industrial action.
The demonstration, orchestrated by the Students’ Union Government (SUG), disrupted commercial traffic across the university host community as students expressed outrage over the indefinite closure of lecture halls.
Carrying placards bearing inscriptions such as “Enough is Enough,” “NASU, NAAT, SSANU have joined strike,” and “Every pending graduate, shey na our lives be these?”, the demonstrators called on the Ondo State Government and union leaders to reach a settlement.
Speaking at the protest barricade, SUG President Folagbade Greatness Ayoola stated that repeated unfulfilled official assurances forced the student body to seek redress through mass street action.
Ayoola challenged the institutional contradiction of students remitting academic fees while the state government fails to disburse statutory salary arrears to academic and non-academic staff.
“We cannot keep silent because we are really facing challenges in our university,” Ayoola said. “Imagine students having to pay school fees while lecturers’ salaries are not being paid.”
He explained that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared an indefinite strike after successive negotiations collapsed, warning that students will sustain lawful actions until management announces a resumption timetable.
Corroborating the grievances, SUG General Secretary Oluwatimileyin Amos maintained that the protracted shutdown has created severe psychological and logistical hardship for students nearing final graduation.
Amos observed that the prolonged paralysis has stranded students in local host accommodation without clear timelines for final degree examinations.
Students’ Senate President Adebiyi Kehinde disclosed that internal mediation efforts with university authorities yielded no progress, urging state officials to address outstanding financial obligations to restore stability to the tertiary institution.
