THE looming strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not merely another episode in Nigeria’s perennial industrial disputes; it is a stark reminder of a higher education system on life support.
In August 2025, ASUU issued multiple warnings of a nationwide strike, citing the Federal Government’s failure to implement the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, a pact intended to rejuvenate public universities through improved funding, infrastructure, and academic welfare.
Though no full-scale strike has commenced, some universities, including the University of Calabar (UNICAL), University of Ibadan (UI), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), and the University of Abuja, have staged protests over unpaid salaries, stalled reforms, poor working conditions, and what they describe as government delay tactics.
The union has warned that its patience has run out, describing the looming action as the ‘mother of all strikes’, if the government continues to ignore its demands.
At the heart of the dispute is the 2009 Agreement, a binding document signed under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. It committed the FG to inject N1.3 trillion over six years to revitalise public universities, including funding for modern infrastructure, research grants, and salaries under the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS).
ASUU alleges that, despite partial releases, N200 billion in 2013 and N20 billion in 2017, the bulk of these commitments remain unfulfilled. Subsequent renegotiation committees, from Wale Babalakin in 2017 to Yayale Ahmed in 2024, have produced draft reports, yet none have been signed or implemented. The result is a system where lecturers teach with inadequate tools, students study in decaying lecture halls, and research, a cornerstone of any robust university, stagnates.
ASUU’s demands are clear. The union insists on the immediate signing and implementation of the December 2024 Yayale Ahmed report, which includes salary adjustments pegged to global standards (professorial pay of $3,000 per month) and reinforced university autonomy. Additionally, it seeks sustained funding for research and laboratory facilities, highlighting that no Nigerian university ranks among the top 1,000 globally due to chronic underfunding.
The 2009 Agreement promised N220 billion annually for such purposes, but only fractions have been disbursed. Furthermore, the union demands the release of N170 billion allocated in the 2023 budget for infrastructure upgrades and a moratorium on the indiscriminate creation of new universities, which it argues dilutes academic standards.
Beyond these, arrears, earned allowances, promotion backlogs, and welfare for retired lecturers remain pressing concerns. ASUU rejects the FG’s Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF) loan scheme as inadequate and burdensome, insisting that wage improvements, not loans, are the solution.
This dispute, however, is not isolated. The FG’s pattern of reneging on agreements with public-sector unions has bred deep mistrust. From ASUU to the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), promises are often made during strikes only to be partially implemented or abandoned. ASUP alone has struck over 20 times since 2010, while NLC has repeatedly mobilised over wage disputes and subsidy removals.
The consequences of chronic underfunding and delayed agreements are severe. Brain drain is rampant, with talented lecturers leaving for better-funded institutions abroad. Graduates from public universities often enter the workforce ill-prepared, reflecting poorly in global rankings and diminishing Nigeria’s competitiveness.
Universities lack modern laboratories, libraries, and teaching tools, forcing academics to conduct research with minimal resources. This stagnation in higher education undermines national development, perpetuating cycles of unemployment and underachievement.
Investing in universities is not merely an expenditure; it is a strategic necessity. Countries Nigeria looks to for inspiration, such as the United States, South Africa, Singapore, and Germany, provide robust research grants and infrastructure support, producing globally competitive graduates and thriving innovation ecosystems.
By allocating adequate funds for research, the FG can catalyze technological advancement, attract investment, and create employment. Revitalising universities, therefore, is not an act of charity; it is an investment in the nation’s future. The August 28, 2025, high-level meeting between the FG and ASUU epitomises the impasse. Although the Federal Government set up a technical committee to review the proposals line by line, it initially denied (before retracting its denial) that any binding agreement existed, effectively reopening negotiations.
ASUU, however, stands firm, citing signed 2009 documents and threatening legal action for what it sees as a breach of International Labour Organisation conventions. The outcome of these negotiations will be decisive: a government that listens and acts could avert disruption, while continued delay risks plunging Nigerian universities further into decline.
Nigeria’s tertiary education system is at an intersection. The ASUU strike threat should not be dismissed as mere disruption. It is a call to action for the Federal Government to honour past agreements, invest meaningfully in infrastructure and research, and build a university system that meets global standards.
Ignoring it risks not only recurring strikes but the systematic erosion of the country’s intellectual capital. In education, as in every other sector, timely investment pays dividends that no loan scheme or delay can substitute. The time to listen, and to act, is now.
