The Nigerian government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will on Wednesday, 14 January, sign the renegotiated 2009 agreement, raising optimism of an end to a decade-old rift between both parties.
The government has sent out invitations mandating vice-chancellors of all federal universities to attend the event to be held at the Ministry of Education, according to an invitation by the Director of University Education, Rakiya Iliyasu.
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“I am directed to invite you to the official ceremony for the signing of the agreement between the federal government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities,” the invite reads in part as seen by this newspaper.
Ms Iliyasu described the event as a ‘critical milestone’ in promoting industrial harmony, enhancing teaching and learning conditions in Nigerian universities.
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She added that it reaffirms the government’s commitment to the sustainable development of the education sector.
2009 agreement
The renegotiation of the agreement, first signed in 2009 and first due for renegotiation in 2012, has stalled for over a decade and resulted in multiple months of industrial action by the academic staff, disrupting the academic calendar in Nigerian public universities.
However, the rift appeared to have reached a possible end, following a mutual agreement reached on 23 December – the first since renegotiation began in 2017.
ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, a professor, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the union reached certain agreements with the government’s team.
Mr Piwuna also told our reporter that the union would meet the education minister, Tunji Alausa, to further discuss the agreement and secure the government’s utmost commitment.
Agreement reached
The agreement reached by the duo included a 40 per cent salary increase for the academics and the establishment of a National Research Council (NRC) with statutory funding of at least one per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Professors are now to earn a pension equivalent to their annual salary at retirement at the age of 70, according to the agreements reached.
The agreement also reflected the government’s commitment to more substantial university autonomy and academic freedom, better funding for universities with allocations for research, libraries, laboratories, equipment, and staff development.
Long walk to agreement
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the agreement was eventually reached by the sixth committee set up by the government, the first being in 2017 and the last in October.
The last committee, known as the Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee, was led by the Pro-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Yayale Ahmed.
The committee was set up shortly after ASUU embarked on a two-week warning strike to protest the government’s failure to sign or implement the agreement.
The union accused the government of routinely constituting renegotiation committees only to fail to sign or implement the draft of the said committee.
Before this new committee, Mr Ahmed headed the renegotiation committee inaugurated by the government in October 2024 to renegotiate the 2009 agreement with ASUU.
In August, Education Minister Tunji Alausa inaugurated a committee headed by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Abel Enitan, to review the draft agreement between ASUU and the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation committee, which was submitted in February.
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Before Mr Ahmed, the late Nimi Briggs, an emeritus professor, led the renegotiation committee in 2022 and produced a draft that the government never signed or implemented.
Before Mr Briggs, it was Munzali Jibrin’s committee of 2021, which also produced a draft that was never signed.
Before them was Wale Babalakin, who headed the committee from 2017 to 2020 when he resigned.
