Tertiary education in Nigeria inched closer to a storm of industrial actions yesterday as conciliatory grounds between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government shrank further.

Also, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address outstanding issues affecting its members or risk a nationwide strike.

The ultimatum was contained in a communiqu? released at the end of the union?s 77th General Executive Council (GEC) meeting in Kano. It listed several pain points, including the release of the new schemes and conditions of service; constitution of a committee to renegotiate the 2010 agreement; non-release of the 2023, 2024, and 2025 NEEDS Assessment funds; payment of arrears, including promotion arrears, 25/35 per cent salary review arrears, wage awards, and full implementation of the new minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government denied signing any agreement with ASUU, maintaining that the long-pending renegotiated agreement with the union was only a draft.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja. He explained that a seven-man committee, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Abel Enitan, had been set up to present the government?s counter-proposal to the union.

He said: ?We?ve mandated them to come back to us with a clean report. We?d review this. And once we finalize our own proposal to ASUU, we?ll give a counter-proposal to the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed Committee to take to ASUU. And ASUU would deliberate and come back to us. We will work assiduously, as quickly and as fast as possible, to get an agreement with ASUU.

?But let me clear this point of correction: the solicitor-general looked into the agreement. The government has never signed any agreement with ASUU. This was a draft agreement. The 2021 agreement was not executed by the government. So I need to be honest and truthful to Nigeria. ASUU might have the impression that they have an agreement with government. There was no signed agreement with government.?

However, analysts warn that this clarification risks heightening tensions and increasing the possibility of an industrial action if consensus is not reached quickly. Nevertheless, others believe that the decision to set up a fresh committee and present a counter-proposal offers a genuine opportunity to resolve lingering disputes and establish a more transparent framework for engagement with the union.

The development comes as ASUU stated that it was never part of a meeting with the Federal Government to finally conclude discussions on the 2009 agreement.

Although an official invitation from the Ministry of Education indicated that the meeting ?between the Federal Ministry of Education and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)? would hold yesterday, the union told The Guardian it would not honour the invitation.

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, insisted that no formal invitation was sent to the union. Piwuna said: ?We are not (part of the meeting). Because it?s their meeting, he?s not meeting with us.

?Why should we be part of the meeting? When we do our own meeting, we don?t invite them. This is their own meeting. We don?t even know the agenda, but we suspect it?s about our issues. We?re not part of the meeting. So there?s no need to even send an invitation to us.?

Attempts to reach Piwuna for further comment proved abortive as he did not respond to several phone calls and messages at the time of filing this report.

When contacted, the Chairman of ASUU, University of Abuja Chapter, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, said he would ?consult? before commenting on the matter.

?Rejects TISSF, demands payment of 3.5 months outstanding entitlements

Also, addressing a press conference at Bayero University, Kano, ASUU Zonal Coordinator (Kano Zone), Prof. AbdulKadir Muhammad, disclosed that ASUU has rejected the new Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund (TISSF) intervention, raising concerns over the guarantor requirement for members.

Instead, ASUU is demanding immediate settlement of its outstanding entitlements, including 3.5 months of withheld salaries. The union is also demanding promotion arrears, arrears of 25/35 per cent arising from salary consequential adjustments, and improved conditions of service from the government?not any form of loan.

The Federal Government introduced TISSF, a N10 million interest-free loan scheme for academic and non-academic staff in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. The initiative is aimed at improving staff welfare and ensuring financial stability.

Prof. AbdulKadir Muhammad, said the union considered the guarantor condition a plot to put ASUU at the receiving end. He said that after ?thorough deliberation, ASUU resolved to distance itself from the charade. Our union was particularly taken aback by a condition that its members get letters of introduction from its leadership to access the loan.

?This, obviously, is a plot to make ASUU a guarantor to intending applicants for the loan. ASUU is a trade union whose membership is voluntary. It is only logical to request a guarantor letter from the employers of prospective loanees,? he said.

The ASUU coordinator urged the Federal Government to expedite action on the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement to avert a looming industrial crisis across universities in the country.

Prof Muhammad expressed concern that government?s refusal to review salaries and improve working conditions of university lecturers for 16 years had pauperized and further demotivated members.

He also lamented what he described as the ?terribly pathetic? condition of retired professors and senior lecturers who have been unable to access their entitlements in the last 10 years.

He stressed that the situation was worsened by the interminable cost of living, occasioned by what he called the ?ruthless implication of IMF/World Bank-inspired neoliberal reforms? in the country.

?The University Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act 2012 mandates that professors retire with their full salaries for life. Alas, the Nigerian Government has refused to implement this provision of the Act,? he said.

Lagos chapter warns over unresolved demands

Similarly, the Lagos Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) warned that its members may be forced to take more definite action if the Federal Government fails to meet their demands.

Speaking yesterday at a press conference held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), the Zonal Coordinator, Adesola Nassir, said members had been patient for too long over unresolved issues with the government.

The unresolved matters include the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement, sustainable funding of universities, revitalization of public universities, payment of 12 months of 25 per cent and 35 per cent wage award arrears, four years of promotion arrears, outstanding third-party deductions, and alleged victimization of ASUU members in some universities.

?Our members have displayed rare patience and perseverance. It has become clear, however, that the trust has been mistaken for complacency. At this point in our struggle, it is only rational to review our stance with the government and take our destiny in our hands,? Nassir said. He explained that the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement was meant to be reviewed in 2012, but government?s delay had worsened the already bad situation.

?Since then, the product of the renegotiation has neither been affirmed nor implemented by government. Concomitantly, university staff and students have been subjected to untold hardship and excruciating poverty,? he said.

The union accused the government of neglecting the education sector, saying the state of infrastructure, as well as teaching and learning materials in many institutions, was nothing to write home about.

?Our laboratories have become stores for relics, rather than state-of-the-art equipment that can assist in expanding the ambits of knowledge. There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is losing out in competitive global trade and human capital development, and as such, our future place in economic competitiveness is obscure,? he added.

The union urged parents, students, and the general public to support its struggle, stressing that ?loans in whatever form cannot replace direct government investment in the training of children and their teachers.

?We implore all and sundry to prevail on government to call all its agencies involved in resolving this impasse to order and allow peace to return to our ivory towers,? Nassir said.

Ilorin ASUU chair lists grievances, urges Tinubu government to act, avert strike

FOR his part, Chairman of ASUU, University of Ilorin branch, Dr. Alex Akanmu, urged Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to address the lecturers? longstanding demands in order to avert the action.

Akanmu, made the call yesterday, listing the outstanding demands of the lecturers to include the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement, sustainable funding and revitalization of universities, university autonomy, outstanding 25?35 per cent salary arrears and third-party deductions, as well as the non-payment and mainstreaming of earned academic allowances in universities.

Speaking on the renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement, Akanmu said: ?It is public knowledge that our salaries have remained virtually stagnant for the past 16 years, despite the clear understanding that the 2009 renegotiated agreement would be reviewed every three years.

?Unfortunately, it took the government a staggering eight years, until 2017, to even constitute a renegotiation committee for this purpose.? He added that since then, ?successive committees including the Wale Babalakin-led joint committee, the Professor Munzali Jubril-led committee and later the Late Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs-led committee, have been set up to engage ASUU.

?The outcome of these engagements was a draft agreement reached in 2021 between ASUU and the Nimi Briggs-led committee.

?However, despite the fact that the committee was appointed by the government itself, government has refused to sign the resulting draft.

?In the spirit of constructive engagement, ASUU gave the current administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ample time to address the persistent challenges facing public universities, but to our dismay, no concrete effort has been made to resolve these issues.?

According to the ASUU chairman, the Federal Government?s continued inaction has further pauperized Nigerian academics in comparison to their global counterparts.

?It is important to stress that ASUU has not forgotten that all these negotiation efforts initiated by the Federal Government itself have led nowhere, as resulting draft agreements were never implemented.

?A true test of the government?s sincerity now lies in how it handles the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed report, submitted since February 2025, which encapsulates all contentious issues and reflects a consensus with our union.

?Our members are increasingly frustrated with the government?s delay tactics?the so-called ?keep them talking? syndrome.

?The union is well aware of the planned meeting scheduled for August 28, 2025, but the prevailing sentiment among our members is clear: they are no longer willing to be dragged along endlessly without tangible outcomes,? he declared.

Akanmu further raised the alarm that the persistent erosion of university autonomy by the government continues with alarming impunity. He said ASUU had opposed the unlawful dissolution of governing councils in public universities, even in instances where no misconduct was reported and the councils had not completed their statutory tenure.

On the three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries, imposed under the punitive ?No Work, No Pay? policy enforced by the previous administration during the 2023 strike, the union urged the government to promptly clear the outstanding payments in the interest of justice and industrial harmony.

SSANIP gives FG 21-day ultimatum over unmet demands

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address outstanding issues affecting its members or risk a nationwide industrial action.

The ultimatum was contained in a communiqu? released at the end of the union?s 77th General Executive Council (GEC) meeting, held at the Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Danbatta, Kano State.

In the communiqu?, signed by Comrade Philip Ogunsipe, National President, and Comrade Shehu Gaya, National Secretary, the union expressed displeasure over what it described as the government?s ?insincerity in keeping to previous agreements or prioritizing the education sector.?

The union listed several unresolved matters, including the release of the new schemes and conditions of service; constitution of a committee to renegotiate the 2010 agreement; non-release of the 2023, 2024, and 2025 NEEDS Assessment funds; payment of arrears, including promotion arrears, 25/35 per cent salary review arrears, wage awards, and full implementation of the new minimum wage.

According to the association, despite several efforts at peaceful engagement, the government has failed to take concrete action, opting instead for ?lip service.?

The communiqu? warned that failure to meet these demands within 21 days, effective August 27, 2025, would leave the union with no option but to withdraw its services across all polytechnics nationwide. (The Guardian)

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