THE ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) branches, on Tuesday joined their counterpart across the country to protest against the Federal Government’s failure to implement the renegotiated 2009 agreement.
Comrade Yusuf Madugu, the Vice-Chairman of ASUU-BUK, told newsmen during the protest in Kano on Tuesday that the action became necessary following the alleged government’s failure to act on the union’s demands.
He recalled that ASUU had renegotiated the 2009 agreement with successive government committees led by Prof. Munzali Jibrin, Prof. Nimi Briggs and most recently under Malam Yayale Ahmed.
“The negotiation was concluded in December 2024, but up till this moment the government has not acted on it. This is the first step among many that we are going to take to appeal to the government to do the needful. Government must meet our demands,” Madugu said.
He listed the union’s demands to include the signing and implementation of the renegotiated agreement, payment of three and a half months withheld salaries after the 2022 strike, and proper funding of universities through revitalisation funds.
“The demand also includes the issue of increment in our salaries, wage, welfare and allowances. There is also the university autonomy. The university needs to be independent. After we ended the strike in 2022, we went back to the classes, conducted lectures and examinations.
“Out of the seven and a half months withheld salaries, only four months were paid. Three and a half months are still outstanding,” he said.
Madugu noted that since the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration released the N200 billion revitalisation fund, which was to be paid in six tranches, only one tranche had been released.
“These revitalisation funds are funds that are needed for funding our universities. We need reagents in our laboratories, books in our libraries, classrooms and a conducive atmosphere for students to learn,” he said.
The vice-chairman warned that the government should be held responsible for any action that follows if the demands are not met, adding that ASUU would decide its next line of action after a national emergency congress.
Similarly, the President of the BUK Students Union Government, Abdullahi Usman-Baba, appealed to the FG to dialogue with ASUU in the interest of students.
“When there is a strike, it is the students that suffer most because our academic calendar gets disrupted. We humbly plead with government to sit with ASUU and listen to their demands,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ASUU-OAU Chairman, Prof. Anthony Odiwe, led members of the union in a peaceful protest in the main campus, singing solidarity songs.
The lecturers were armed with placards with inscriptions such as “We Say No To Loans”, “Pay Our Retirees”, “Lecturers Are Not Slaves,” among others.
Addressing journalists, Odiwe accused the Federal Government of neglecting the education sector and showing a lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare of academic staff. He said that despite repeated promises, the Federal Government had failed to implement the renegotiated 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement.
Odiwe alleged that the Federal Government also failed to pay the three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries of members, release sustainable funding for universities, revitalize universities, among others.
According to him, the present administration has continued to employ delay tactics, even after receiving the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed report on the renegotiated agreement in February 2025.
Odiwe said that the union had written several letters, explored various strategies of engagement, and drawn attention to the issues affecting Federal Government universities without any tangible results.
He insisted that unless the government takes concrete steps to address the outstanding issues before the union’s next National Executive Council meeting scheduled for Aug. 28, it would be left with no other option but to embark on fresh industrial action.
Odiwe called on traditional rulers, religious leaders, student bodies, and the National Assembly to intervene and prevail on the government to act swiftly to avert another disruption of academic activities nationwide. (NAN)
