The Academic Staff Union of Universities ,ASUU), has threatened to embark on fresh industrial action if the federal government fails to address long-standing demands.
Some of the demands raised by the union include payment of outstanding Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, and release of the university revitalisation fund, among others.
Christopher Piwuna, ASUU president, in a statement on Saturday in Abuja, said lecturers are angry and unhappy over their conditions of service.
“Feelers across campuses indicate that lecturers in Nigerian public universities are, to put it mildly, not happy,” the statement reads.
“They teach students on empty stomachs. They conduct research in libraries and laboratories bereft of essential electronic and physical journals, books, chemicals and reagents.
“They engage with communities and agencies in rickety cars while encumbered by utility bills, children’s fees, house rents, family upkeep and a legion of other unmet responsibilities.
“Yet elite Nigerians are quick to blame the universities for ‘producing unemployable graduates’ and failure to initiate innovative research for addressing the country’s problems. Our members feel forgotten, shamed and demoralised by past and present governments.
“Nothing illustrates this antipathy better than the frustrated attempts to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, despite submission of a draft agreement by the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed committee to government since December 2024, eight clear months ago.”
The ASUU president criticised the recent statement credited to Tunji Alausa, minister of education, that “not again ever in this country will ASUU or tertiary institutions, trade unions, teachers, lecturers go on strike”.
He said the minister’s optimism about government’s strategy of “dialogue, maintaining a good relationship with union heads (leaders) and meeting the demands of the unions” was welcome, but urged concrete action on outstanding issues.
“For the umpteenth time, ASUU invites all genuine patriots to prevail on Nigeria’s Federal and State Governments to address all lingering labour issues in the Nigerian University System to avert another looming industrial crisis,” he said.
“Nigerian academics are tired of governments’ excuses which have only left them with a long list of Memoranda of Understanding/Memoranda of Action (MoUs/MoAs) — 2013, 2017, 2019, 2020 — and kept them talking over the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement for upward of eight years!
“No memorandum or discussion can take the place of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which fully addresses staff welfare issues and the requisite environment for productive academic work. The time to act is now!”
