Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday staged nationwide protests to demand the payment of outstanding entitlements and reject the Federal Government’s new loan initiative for tertiary institution staff.
At the University of Jos, the union’s branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, described the Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund as a “poison chalice,” arguing that lecturers need their withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears paid, not loans. “How can the government ask us to borrow money for healthcare, school fees, and basic needs when it is still owing us?” he asked.
Similar protests were held at the University of Lagos, the University of Benin, the Federal University Gusau, and the Federal University Dutse, where lecturers carried placards demanding payment of arrears, improved welfare, and full implementation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement. At Gusau, branch chairman Abdulrahman Adamu accused the government of neglecting universities and relying solely on TETFUND for funding, while staff continue to face hardship.
The union listed the government’s outstanding obligations to include three and a half months’ withheld salaries from the 2020 strike, unpaid promotion arrears, wage award arrears of up to 35 months, earned allowances, revitalisation funds, and unremitted third-party deductions.
ASUU warned that the government’s failure to address these issues threatens industrial peace in the university system. The lecturers said they had trusted President Bola Tinubu’s campaign promise that university strikes would not happen under his watch but expressed disappointment that two years into his administration, major grievances remain unresolved.
The union appealed to the president to personally intervene in the matter, stressing that while it remains open to dialogue, patience among members is wearing thin. It cautioned that without urgent action, the country risks another prolonged disruption of academic activities.
