Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) staged a nationwide protest on Tuesday to press the Federal Government over what they described as persistent neglect of their long-standing demands.
At the University of Jos, lecturers held a demonstration before briefing journalists, rejecting the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme.
ASUU branch chairperson Joseph Molwus called the initiative a “poison chalice,” arguing that it would deepen lecturers’ financial hardship rather than address their economic realities.
“How can the government ask us to borrow money for healthcare, school fees, and basic needs when it still owes us withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears?” Molwus asked, insisting that lecturers need their legitimate entitlements, not loans.
Similar protests took place at the University of Lagos, where placard-carrying lecturers demanded better treatment, payment of arrears, improved welfare, and a renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement.
The unrest extended to the University of Benin in Edo State and the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State. At Gusau, union chairman Abdulrahman Adamu criticized the government for leaving funding solely to TETFUND while lecturers face ongoing hardships. He revealed that the government still owes ASUU three and a half months’ salaries from the 2020 strike, in addition to unpaid promotion and wage award arrears ranging from 25 to 35 months.
Academic staff at the Federal University Dutse in Jigawa State also joined the nationwide protest, citing unpaid salary arrears of three months.
Chairman Isma’il Ahmad described the current salaries as barely sufficient to sustain livelihoods, reiterating that the government should settle outstanding obligations rather than offering loans. These obligations include unpaid salaries, earned allowances, promotion arrears, revitalisation funds, wage awards, and unremitted third-party deductions.
ASUU further criticized the government for failing to conclude renegotiations of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, accusing it of abandoning collective bargaining despite years of engagement and committee reports. The union warned that the industrial peace maintained for over two years is under threat and cautioned that another prolonged university shutdown could occur unless urgent action is taken.
The lecturers also reminded the government of President Bola Tinubu’s 2022 campaign promise that university strikes would not occur under his administration.
They called on the president to personally intervene, urging him to “renew the hope” of lecturers and the education sector. While reaffirming their commitment to dialogue, ASUU stressed that patience is running out and warned that unresolved issues could plunge the universities into another crisis.
