LAST week presented some form of tenuous threshold in the management of public education in Nigeria especially with respect to the relationship between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and how this translates to industrial harmony and stable academic calendar. This followed the unveiling of a renegotiated agreement aimed at resolving long-standing disputes in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector which have resulted in incessant strikes and closure of universities.
The renegotiated agreement remains significant in the light of education being the bedrock of the development plan of any society. It therefore should be treated with utmost seriousness as trivializing it poses an utmost peril of an already ambushed and truncated future. From foundation, formation to finishing, education should be geared at practically signposting the envisioned development trajectory of any given society.
Every arm of society should therefore be concerned about what direction the future and fortune of the nation’s education is heading. Education should also be context based or situated by which I mean that it should be designed to proffer solutions to existing challenges of any given society and not constitute the problem crying out for solution. ASUU in the context of Nigeria’s education appeared to have been better known for protracted disagreements with the Federal Government, often degenerating into closures of Varsities, break in academic calendar and loss of precious time to students and their parents.
The point however need to be clarified that both the Federal Government and ASUU have always flaunted one agreement or the other. The challenge had always been in the resolved will and sincerity of implication of the provisions of the spirits and tenets of the negotiated agreements.
The 2025 agreement is however said to be the conclusion of a renegotiation process that began in 2017 to review the 2009 FG–ASUU pact, which was due for revision in 2012.
Previous committees set up under past administrations chaired by Wale Babalakin, MunzaliJibrin and Nimi Briggs were said to have failed to deliver a final agreement. Some even said they came out with documents that had terms of agreements not duly signed by both parties.
The renegotiated agreement as unveiled last week under the Yayale Ahmed-led committee in October 2024 is considered a breakthrough which came under the current administration focusing on improved conditions of service, funding, university autonomy, academic freedom and broader reforms to reverse sectoral decay, curb brain drain and reposition universities for national development. When compared with what obtains in the education sector of developed economies, it may not be considered on the note of celebration as it is still way below the international remunerative benchmark in the human capital development sector. It however presents a commendable improvement with respect to what currently obtains.
A key provision of the agreement is the upward review of the remuneration of academic staff in federal universities by 40 per cent, with effect from January 1, 2026.
Under the new structure, salaries will comprise the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary and a Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, which accounts for the 40 per cent increment.
The tools allowance is designed to support core academic activities such as research, journal publications, conference participation, internet access, learned society membership and book procurement, with the broader objective of boosting productivity ,curbing brain drain and making education to practically impact on development.
It is hoped that the faithful implementation of the renegotiated agreement will restore stability in the academic calendar of public universities. The celebration of the unveiling of the renegotiated agreement is akin to a woman celebrating conception of pregnancy. While it is understandable, the real celebration is expected to be at the point of a safe delivery. The agreement also restructures nine earned academic allowances to promote transparency and fairness by tying payments strictly to duties performed.
These include postgraduate supervision, fieldwork, clinical responsibilities, examination duties and leadership roles within the university system.
In addition, the Federal Government in the freshly unveiled renegotiated package approved a new Professorial Cadre Allowance for senior academics for the first time.
Under this provision, full-time professors will receive N1.74m annually, while readers will earn N840,000 per annum, an intervention described by the government as a structural and transformative measure to recognise experience, enhance dignity and strengthen the academic profession.
To the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, the new deal marked a renewed commitment by the Federal Government to uninterrupted academic calendars and improved welfare for university lecturers.
According to him, the agreement goes beyond a formal document and represents “renewed trust, restored confidence, and a decisive turning point in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.”
Alausa credited President Tinubu with personally driving the process, noting that, “for the first time in the history of our country, a sitting President took full ownership of this long-standing challenge confronting our tertiary education system and accorded it the leadership attention it truly deserved.”
Considering that agreements are judged both on the strength of their provisions and the faithfulness of implementation, Alausa
reaffirmed the government’s commitment to faithful implementation of the agreement under the Renewed Hope Agenda and thanked members of both the government and ASUU renegotiating teams for resolving what he described as “a two-decade-old quagmire.”
For the first time in recent history, it was remarkable seeing the leadership of ASUU and the Federal Government operating on the same page with respect to the fate and future of education.
For it had indeed become an issue of obvious concern when stakeholders in this all important sector are neither on the same page nor can be said to be singing from the same hymnary . I have hada long standing grouse with government over poor funding of the sector. A lot actually needed to have been done to address this atrophying trajectory.
President Obama was once quoted to have told the world that any nation that can out- budget you in Education will ultimately outpace you in development. The cost of quality, impactful education may on the surface appear high but the long term cost of recycled ignorance which school closure and ASUU strike in Nigeria represent can be daunting. I am equally pained at the jaundiced dogmatic resolve and stubborn inclination of the leadership of ASUU which makes them settle for strike and closure of the University systems as the all-purpose solution and negotiation tool towards bringing the nation’s education to relevance and multi-sectoral reckoning.
Incidentally, ASUU has made more news through resort to strike and varsity closure rather than results from research to power Nigeria’s much needed development and breakthrough in key sectors of human endeavors.
Not many of our universities have demonstrated enough resolve at innovation and solution for existing societal problems. The Ivory Tower as the proverbial gown, is expected to show the light for the town, the Nigerian community to find the way. Education without innovation and transformational impact is but of little value to society. There is hardly an academic session that passes without welfare and funding issues degenerating to trade disputes and strike action between ASUU and the Federal Government.
Top among a wide range of issues that have caused rift between ASUU and Federal Governmentinclude non-signing of the 2009 renegotiation agreement, non-payment of three-and-half month withheld salaries, non-payment of promotion arrears and non-release of revitalisation funds to make the university environment more conducive than is currently the case. It is therefore hoped that the renegotiated agreement when faithfully implemented puts all these previous contentious issues to rest.
It is indeed a major source of national embarrassment to have government officials who enter into agreements with unions only to later renege at the point of implementation. This manifold insincerity has been at the core of the ASUU, Federal Government recurrent trade dispute.
We have had situations in the past where Nigerians were told that documents the leadership of ASUU was parading was not signed by the representatives of the Federal Government. Being therefore mere proposals the government was not obligated to due implementation.
In the words of the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, “The documents ASUU had been referring to as agreements were just proposals that were never signed,” . This portends fraudulent and insincere inclinations that can only but postpone the evil day which ultimately will come.
It is indeed worrisome to note that in the past ten years (from mid-2015 to mid-2025), ASUU has gone on strike at least four times: in 2016 (a one-week warning strike), 2017 (one month), 2018 (three months), and 2020 (nine months). There was also a prolonged strike in 2022 and a failed warning strike attempt in 2021.
In 2016 Nigerian universities recorded a one-week warning strike over the failure of the Federal Government to implement this same 2009 agreement.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began its history of strikes in 1988 under the military regime. The protests were over better wages and university autonomy. This led to its temporary proscription. Since then, ASUU has engaged in frequent industrial actions, often due to the government’s failure to implement agreements regarding funding, poor salaries, and allowances for lecturers.
These frequent strikes have historically led to the suspension of academic activities in public universities and have significantly impacted the quality and standard of education in Nigeria. To unveil a new set of renegotiated agreements is noteworthy. We however do not have to roll out the drums now until we see the sincere spirit of comprehensive implementation as against recourse to technical alibi.
