Aiyedatiwa approves N35,000 wage award for Ondo tertiary institution workers

Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ondo state governor, has approved the payment of N35,000 monthly wage award for workers of state-owned tertiary institutions. 

In November 2023, the state government started paying the state civil servants the wage allowance but workers of state-owned tertiary institutions were excluded.

In March, the workers protested their exclusion from the payment of the wage allowance and embarked on an indefinite strike.

In a statement on Monday, Ebenezer Adeniyan, Aiyedatiwa’s chief press secretary, said the approval followed the governor’s meeting with the heads of tertiary institutions and leaders of the workers’ unions of the institutions in Akure, the state capital.

The payment of the wage award, which will run for six months, will begin from June 2024.

“The state government had earlier stated that the wage award for the school workers was expected to be paid from the subvention of the tertiary institutions which had been increased in recent months,” the statement reads.

“However, the inability of the tertiary institutions to pay the award from their subvention necessitated the intervention of the Governor.

“The reduction of the wage award for civil servants from N35,000 to N15,000 was to enable the government to get enough resources to pay the wage award for workers of the tertiary institutions.

“The pensioners in the State are also receiving N10,000 monthly wage awards.”