August Salary Delay: LASUSTECH Management, Unions Trade Claims as Workers Remain Unpaid

Newslens NG  reports that the delay in the payment of August 2026 salaries at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) has taken a new dimension, with the institution’s Management and non-academic staff unions offering conflicting explanations over the development.

While LASUSTECH Management has linked the salary delay to the ongoing industrial action by non-academic staff unions, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions has insisted that it released workers responsible for salary preparation when they were requested by the University’s Bursar.

The Director of Information at LASUSTECH, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, told Newslens NG that all members of staff, including himself, were yet to receive their August salaries.

Kuye said he had personally appealed to members of the unions to temporarily suspend their industrial action to enable the necessary processes for salary payment to be completed.

“I have told them to let’s suspend so we can receive our salaries. As I speak with you, I have not received my salary also,” he said.

According to the Director of Information, the delay in payment is directly connected to the industrial action because members of staff responsible for preparing the University’s payroll are participating in the strike.

He explained that Management had met with the Joint Action Committee on Thursday and appealed to the unions to suspend the action to enable salary processing, but the request was not accepted.

However, the LASUSTECH JAC has disputed the suggestion that the industrial action prevented the preparation of workers’ salaries.

In a statement signed by its Secretary, Abimbola Ganiat, the JAC said the unions had consistently released members whenever Management requested their services for essential internal activities since the strike began on August 3.

The union specifically stated that on August 21, the University’s Bursar requested the release of members of staff in the Salaries and Wages Unit for the preparation of the August 2026 salaries.

According to the JAC, the request was granted and the affected staff members were released to carry out the required duties.

The union maintained that the exercise was duly carried out, insisting that its members had fulfilled their responsibility regarding the preparation of the August salaries.

The JAC said its members had also been released during the strike to support other official activities, including a resource assessment, the processing of a N50,000 palliative, Senate meetings, JUPEB entrance examinations and NYSC mobilisation processes.

“We are therefore disheartened that Management’s communication appears to be painting the Unions as responsible for the non-payment of the August salary, when the Unions have consistently released members whenever Management has specifically requested their services,” the union said.

The JAC also confirmed that it met with LASUSTECH Management on Thursday, August 27, to discuss the situation.

According to the union, it explained that the industrial action was declared under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee of Lagos State-owned universities and could not be independently called off by LASUSTECH unions without further directives from the broader JAC.

Meanwhile, Kuye maintained that his appeal was not for the unions to permanently abandon their demands but to temporarily suspend the strike to enable workers to receive their salaries while negotiations continue.

“There is a huge difference between suspend and call off the strike,” he said.

The Director of Information noted that the situation had generated concern among workers, particularly because staff members of other Lagos State-owned universities, including LASU and LASUED, were reported to have received their August salaries.

He, however, explained that the industrial action and union arrangements at the institutions differed.

Kuye appealed to the unions to consider temporarily suspending the strike in the interest of workers’ welfare, arguing that receiving their salaries would provide relief to affected employees while negotiations with relevant authorities continue.

The development has now exposed a sharp disagreement between LASUSTECH Management and the non-academic staff unions over the real reason workers are yet to receive their August salaries.

While Management maintains that the strike has prevented the completion of the payroll process, the unions insist that staff responsible for preparing the salaries were released upon the Bursar’s request and carried out the assignment.

As of the time of filing this report, workers of LASUSTECH, including both academic and non-academic staff, were still awaiting payment of their August 2026 salaries.