Academic staff in Ogun State-owned polytechnics have warned of a possible industrial action over unpaid allowances, inadequate institutional funding and outstanding pension deductions, giving the state government six more days to resolve their grievances.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has appealed to Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene before the expiration of a 15-day ultimatum issued by its national leadership, warning that failure to meet its demands could disrupt academic activities across the affected institutions.
The union also criticised the government’s continued allocation of a ₦5m monthly subvention to some state-owned polytechnics, describing the amount as insufficient to meet their operational needs after more than a decade without a review.
ASUP representatives from various institutions made their concerns public on Thursday during a joint press conference at the union’s secretariat at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.
Those present included representatives of D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori; Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa; Gateway ICT Polytechnic, Saapade; Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu-Igbo; and Ogun State Polytechnic of Health and Allied Sciences, Ilese-Ijebu. The ASUP chairman at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Adebayo Adeleke, also attended.
Presenting the union’s position, Kolawole Adeyemi explained that the warning followed decisions reached at ASUP’s 118th National Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on October 22. The 15-day ultimatum commenced on October 27.
He said the union was demanding the implementation of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), as provided for in the 2026 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUP.
According to Adeyemi, the national leadership had written to the Ogun State Government twice, on August 5 and September 21, requesting the implementation of the welfare provisions. However, the union claimed that neither communication had resulted in a satisfactory commitment from the government.
With the deadline approaching, ASUP said it considered it necessary to publicly restate its position and urge the state administration to act before the disagreement escalated into an industrial dispute.
Beyond the outstanding allowances, the lecturers raised concerns about what they described as prolonged underfunding of the state’s six polytechnics.
They disclosed that some institutions had continued to receive just ₦5m monthly from the government for over 10 years, despite rising costs of running academic programmes, maintaining facilities and meeting administrative responsibilities.
The union argued that the existing funding arrangement could no longer support the effective management and development of the institutions, particularly given current economic conditions.
ASUP also accused the state government of failing to meet its pension obligations consistently, alleging that counterpart contributions had not been adequately funded and deductions from workers’ salaries had remained unremitted to their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) for several months.
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It warned that the situation placed the retirement benefits and long-term financial security of employees at risk, despite their years of service to the state.
The association further complained that palliative payments announced by the government had not reached workers across all the state-owned polytechnics. It said many employees in the affected institutions were yet to receive the support this year.
ASUP maintained that the uneven distribution of the intervention had increased workers’ financial difficulties and created a sense of neglect among those excluded.
The union also called for greater government investment in technical and vocational education, arguing that polytechnics played an important role in developing practical skills, encouraging entrepreneurship and preparing young people for employment.
It insisted that the institutions required sustainable funding and deliberate policy attention to fulfil their responsibilities in the state’s education system and wider economic development.
To address the situation, the union asked the Abiodun administration to begin paying CATA and EAA to eligible academic staff in line with the 2026 Federal Government-ASUP agreement.
It also demanded an increase in the monthly subvention of each state-owned polytechnic from the existing allocation to ₦100m, saying the proposed amount would better reflect their present financial and operational requirements.
On pension matters, ASUP urged the government to provide regular counterpart contributions and settle all outstanding employee deductions that had not been transferred to the relevant pension administrators.
Adeyemi expressed hope that the remaining six days would provide the government with an opportunity to address the grievances and prevent a shutdown of academic activities.
He maintained that the dispute could still be resolved through timely intervention and genuine engagement, urging the state government not to allow issues that could be settled through dialogue to disrupt the institutions’ academic calendars.
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