The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has warned that it may refuse to meet with the Federal Government until past agreements are implemented.
Addressing the media at Moses Adasu University, formerly Benue State University Makurdi, on what it called the government’s consistent breach of trust and agreements, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Nsukka Zone, Christian Opata, warned that a huge storm was already gathering over the government’s inaction, which “if unchecked would metamorphose into a crisis of unquantifiable magnitude.”
The Zonal Coordinator stated that the union had been in talks with the government on the same concerns for more than a decade, and that “agreements were reached, timelines were given, but each time, the government would brazenly and unashamedly jettison the agreements.”
He stated that after giving the government adequate time to demonstrate sincerity, seriousness, and humanity, ASUU was left with no choice but to notify the government and the public of its decision to return to the trenches.
The union identified numerous points of concern, including the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government, the slow and purposeful erosion of university autonomy, and the tactical departure from collective bargaining principles.
“Others are the refusal to revitalise public universities, non-payment of withheld and outstanding salaries of our members for work they have done, non-payment of promotion arrears to staff, the withholding of third-party deduction, the non-payment of the 25-35 per cent wage increase, the starving of universities of funds and the attempt to railroad our members into slavery in the name of loans, and the controversial Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund (TISSF).”
The union also criticised the government for wasting taxpayer money and notable Nigerians’ time by forming committees to solve union issues just to abandon the conclusions reached.
“If not, how do we explain that from the Wale Babalakin to the Munzali Jibril, Nimi Briggs and now the Yayale Ahmed Committee, the recommendations of these committees of eminent Nigerians, chosen by the same government, were treated with ignominy?
“We are almost losing count of the number of Memoranda of Understanding and Memoranda of Action signed between us and the government.
“Under the current administration, the renegotiated agreement of the Yayale Ahmed-led Renegotiation Committee was submitted to the government in February 2025, after some preliminary challenges, largely occasioned by the government and its agents.
“Unfortunately, nothing meaningful has been done on the report since then. If the government is deliberately testing our will, it is time for us to respond.
“The antics of summoning the union to meetings where the resolutions reached at such meetings would not be honoured are not only nauseating but unacceptable.
“We are aware that the government is deliberate in its actions, and we may be forced not to honour any meeting they summon until they show commitment. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine,” it noted.
