Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday embarked on a nationwide protest to highlight what they described as the Federal Government’s persistent neglect of its long-standing demands.
At the University of Jos, members of the union staged a demonstration before addressing journalists, where they announced their outright rejection of the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme.
ASUU branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, said the initiative was not a solution but a deliberate attempt to push lecturers deeper into financial hardship.
According to him, the loan scheme was nothing but a “poison chalice” designed to impoverish university teachers rather than address the reality of their economic situation.
He argued that lecturers do not need loans but rather the payment of their legitimate entitlements that the government has failed to honour.
“How can the government ask us to borrow money to pay for healthcare, school fees and basic needs when it is still owing us withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears?” he asked.
At the University of Lagos, ASUU members who joined the nationwide protest demanded better treatment of lecturers and the education sector.
The placard-bearing lecturers demanded the Federal Government’s payment of arrears, improved welfare and renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement.
Looming Strike
The situation was the same at the University of Benin in Edo State and the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State, where protesting lecturers sent a strong message to the Federal Government to honour the 2009 agreement or risk another strike action.
Chairman of the union at the Federal University Gusau, Abdulrahman Adamu, who led the protest, decried the government’s neglect of Nigerian universities, lamenting that funding has been left solely to TETFUND while academic staff continue to face various forms of hardship.
He revealed that the Federal Government still owes ASUU three and a half months’ salaries from the 2020 strike action, in addition to unpaid promotion arrears and wage award arrears of between twenty-five to thirty-five months.
Similarly, academic staff members at the Federal University Dutse in Jigawa State joined their colleagues nationwide to protest the non-payment of their three months’ salary arrears by the Federal Government.
The Chairman of the university’s union, Isma’il Ahmad, said the government has turned a blind eye to the plight of university lecturers and failed to honour the 2009 agreement.
According to him, the current salaries being paid to lecturers are barely enough to sustain their livelihood.
The union insisted that instead of offering loans, the government should release the funds to settle outstanding obligations, which include unpaid salaries, earned academic allowances, promotion arrears, revitalisation funds, wage awards, and third-party deductions that have not been remitted.
ASUU further expressed anger over the refusal of the government to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, accusing it of abandoning the principles of collective bargaining despite several years of engagement and the submission of reports by various committees.
The union stressed that the refusal to act on these matters has left lecturers in a state of despair, warning that the industrial harmony which the universities have enjoyed for more than two years is now under serious threat.
They noted that the government has consistently made promises without taking action and cautioned that, unless urgent steps are taken, the country could face another prolonged shutdown of academic activities.
The union also drew attention to President Bola Tinubu’s campaign pledge in 2022 that university strikes would not occur under his watch.
The lecturers said they had placed their hopes on that promise but were now disappointed that two years into his administration, the major issues remain unresolved.
They appealed to the president to personally intervene by engaging directly with ASUU leaders to avert a crisis, urging him to “renew the hope” of lecturers and the education sector at large.
The union maintained that it remains committed to dialogue but warned that patience is fast running out, adding that unless the Federal Government urgently addresses the issues, the universities risk sliding back into another round of crisis.
