•Tinubu
The honeymoon between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government may soon be over, as the former has hinted at embarking on yet another long strike to press home its demands over the unresolved 2009 Agreement.
This is even as the Union has given its assessment of the Bola Tinubu two-year administration, lamenting that institutional weaknesses, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and endemic corruption undermine governance at all levels, reports Saturday Guardian.
The union is also asking the federal government to release the N150 billion revitalisation fund.
New President of ASUU, Professor Chris Piwuna, stated this at a press conference in Abuja yesterday.
Piwuna alleged that the government is benefiting from insecurity plaguing some parts of the country, which is why the issue persists without a solution.
The new ASUU President, who decried the level of implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, called on the present administration not to test its resolve, adding that it has delayed embarking on strikes for about a year.
He said: “We think that the Yayale Ahmed Committee has worked hard, and that we have finished the work with them, and that we need to hear from them.
“We haven’t heard from them, and we think that they should go back. The Yayale Ahmed Committee should meet with their principals and get back to us as soon as possible. We have exhausted our patience in waiting for this renegotiated agreement.”
While expressing displeasure with enormous challenges from a hostile work environment and debilitating conditions of service among members, Piwuna called on the Nigerian government to address all outstanding issues from previous engagements for the development of the education system.
He said: “The ordinary citizens of our country have become the victims of prolonged political manipulations and economic exploitation by the ruling class and their foreign sponsors.
“The university system has not been spared from the whirlwind of policy misadventures and orchestrated befuddlement of the polity. The governments of Nigeria, at the federal and state levels, merely pay lip service to the business of education in general and the welfare of university academics in particular.
“It is saddening that the tortuous journey of renegotiating the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement has continued endlessly since 2017.”
He listed unaddressed issues between the Federal Government and the Union to include: conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement based on Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021; release of withheld three-and-half months salaries on account of the 2022 strike action; release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time and adjunct appointments.
Others include the release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; funding for revitalization of public universities; proliferation of universities by the Federal and State Governments, and others.
He stated that two years into the Tinubu administration, there has been no positive improvement as it relates to the education sector.
“It is noted that the government has made promises on some of these issues. The government agreed to mainstream the EAA into the salaries with the creation of Irregular Allowance as a budget line in the 2026 Budget, after the release of N50 billion for backlog and budgeting N29 billion for payment of 2025 Earned Academic Allowances,” he said.
“Similarly, the government also agreed to release N150 billion as revitalisation fund within four weeks, with effect from April 2025.
“However, we are still waiting for the government to fulfil these promises. The Union has also reached an understanding with the Yayale Ahmed-led Committee, with the review of the report of the Nimi Briggs-led FGN-ASUU Renegotiation Committee in December 2024. Again, ASUU members have been left in limbo, waiting for the signing of an Agreement five months after!
“Delegates at the UNIBEN National Delegates’ Conference exhaustively evaluated the government’s disposition in resolving outstanding issues with the Union and expressed regrets that nothing has significantly changed in the last two years.”
The Union leader claimed that funds meant for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) were being diverted to finance the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
