ASUU raises concerns over non-implementation of newly signed agreement

Three months after the newly signed agreement took effect, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the Nigerian government had failed to fulfil several components of the pact, which was expected to bring an end to the persistent dispute and industrial actions by university staff.

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Both parties signed what was considered a landmark ASUU-FG 2025 agreement in December, with implementation set for January.

The agreement, a renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, followed more than a decade of disputes and industrial actions that disrupted academic calendars at Nigerian public universities.

While unveiling the agreement in January, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, described it as an end to industrial actions in Nigerian universities.

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Allaying fears that the agreement will not be implemented, Mr Alausa said the financial implications of the agreement have been captured in the 2026 budget, and a circular has already been sent to harmonise the other components.

“Today signals the death of strikes in our institutions,” Mr Alausa declared as he unveiled the details of the agreement at a ceremony in January.

Not implemented

However, ASUU President Christopher Piwuna said the implementation has yet to begin in full, as lecturers continue to receive mutilated salaries.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES by telephone, Mr Piwuna, a professor, explained that the earned academic allowances, which are supposed to be mainstreamed into academics’ salaries, have not been implemented.

He said some universities have also said they cannot pay sabbatical staff full salaries, even though full salaries were included in the agreement.

The ASUU President added that some universities have also failed to pay the professorial allowances to academics at the doctoral cadre level, as captured in the agreement.

2026 budget delay

Although the education minister said the allowances have been captured in the N3.52 trillion education budget presented by President Bola Tinubu, the appropriation bill has yet to be passed into law.

Mr Piwuna expressed concern that the delay in passing the budget is stretching the patience of academics.

“Right now, we understand that the focus of those who are supposed to pass the budget and those who are supposed to push for the budget –their focus is on party primaries, their focus is on conventions, their focus is on 2027. And we just wanted to draw attention to the fact that our own focus in the union is the full implementation of our agreement,” he told our reporter.

“We don’t begrudge them doing that, but we wanted to remind them of our own focus, which is the full implementation of our agreement. And our focus will not be deterred by their own focus. So let them go ahead and conduct their own elections or whatever.”

Mr Piwuna said the union has not issued a threat of strike, but noted members’ patience is waning.

“We’ve shown enough patience, but I’m not sure we have any more patience left,” he said.

ASUU-FG 2025 agreement

In October, the sixth committee constituted by the government to renegotiate the 2009 agreement completed the renegotiation and harmonisation.

The agreement 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).

It also included a clause that professors must now earn a pension equivalent to their annual salary at retirement, at age 70.

The agreement also captured 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.

It also includes a professorial cadre allowance of N1.7 million annually for full professors and N840,000 annually for academics who are Readers.