The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised fresh concerns over a possible industrial crisis in Nigeria’s public universities, urging both the Federal and State Governments to take immediate and concrete action to avert a shutdown.
In a strongly worded statement signed by its president, Christopher Piwuna, ASUU expressed deep frustration over what it described as years of neglect, poor welfare, and the government’s failure to honour signed agreements. The union’s warning follows recent remarks by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who assured that “not again ever in this country will ASUU or tertiary institutions… go on strike.”
While acknowledging the minister’s emphasis on dialogue, ASUU stressed that optimism must be backed with tangible results.
“While ASUU shares his optimism about dialogue and maintaining relationships, the government needs to go beyond words and act on our outstanding issues,” the statement read.
The union painted a grim picture of the reality faced by lecturers, many of whom, it said, teach “on empty stomachs” and conduct research without access to basic resources such as electronic journals, books, chemicals, and reagents. Beyond the lecture halls, many lecturers struggle with unpaid utility bills, lack of transportation, school fees for their children, and other mounting financial burdens.
Piwuna also lamented what he described as unfair public criticism of universities for producing unemployable graduates, saying such remarks ignore the systemic underfunding and lack of support from government.
“Lecturers feel forgotten, shamed, and demoralised by past and present governments,” he said.
Central to the union’s grievances is the unresolved renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, which ASUU says successive administrations have failed to fully implement.
“Agents of government at the State and Federal levels have characteristically thrown the underlying principles of the Agreement overboard and resorted to platitudes and tokenism. They pick and choose what aspect(s) of the package to renegotiate and implement,” Piwuna stated.
The ASUU president also faulted government initiatives such as the “Diaspora Bridge” programme, describing it as hypocritical to expect academics seeking better work environments to work like “volunteers” while neglecting their fundamental rights and welfare.
ASUU warned that unless urgent steps are taken to address these issues, the country’s public university system could once again be plunged into prolonged disruption — a prospect the union says is entirely preventable if the government chooses action over rhetoric.
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