ASUU embarks on nationwide protest, rejects Government’s loan scheme, threatens fresh strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday staged a nationwide protest to draw attention to what it described as the Federal Government’s continued neglect of its long-standing demands.

At the University of Jos, lecturers rejected the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme, describing it as a “poison chalice” meant to worsen their economic hardship.

The branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, said what lecturers need is the payment of withheld salaries and allowances, not loans.

“How can the government ask us to borrow money to pay for healthcare, school fees and basic needs when it is still owing us withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears?” he asked.

The protests also held at the University of Lagos, where placard-carrying lecturers demanded arrears payment, improved welfare, and the renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement. Similar demonstrations were seen at the University of Benin and the Federal University Gusau, where ASUU Chairman, Abdulrahman Adamu, condemned the government’s neglect of universities, noting that funding has been left largely to TETFUND while lecturers endure severe hardship.

He revealed that the government still owes the union three and a half months’ salaries from the 2020 strike, along with unpaid promotion arrears and wage awards spanning over two years.

In Dutse, Jigawa State, lecturers at the Federal University joined their colleagues nationwide, lamenting that their current salaries are barely enough to survive.

The union’s branch chairperson, Isma’il Ahmad, accused the government of turning a blind eye to the plight of lecturers while failing to honour the 2009 agreement.

ASUU reiterated that what is needed is the release of withheld salaries, earned academic allowances, promotion arrears, revitalisation funds, wage awards, and outstanding third-party deductions, rather than loans.

The union also condemned the Federal Government’s refusal to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, accusing it of abandoning collective bargaining despite years of engagement.

The lecturers warned that unless urgent action is taken, the industrial harmony in universities over the past two years could be disrupted by another nationwide strike.

They recalled President Bola Tinubu’s campaign promise in 2022 that university strikes would not happen under his watch, but expressed disappointment that two years into his administration, the issues remain unresolved.

Appealing to the president to personally intervene, ASUU urged him to engage directly with the union to prevent a crisis, stressing that while it remains committed to dialogue, patience is running out fast.