ASUU to FG: Renew our hope now to avert looming strike

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Jos, and Plateau State University branches, have called on the Federal Government to urgently address its long-standing demands to avert a looming crisis in Nigeria’s public universities.

UniJos Branch Chairperson, Comrade Jurbe Molwus, and his PLASU counterpart, Comrade Monday Zitta who addressed journalists in Jos and Bokkos on Tuesday during a protest rally, said government’s persistent failure to honour agreements has stretched lecturers’ patience to breaking point and could erode the industrial harmony enjoyed in universities over the past two years.

The Union expressed displeasure over the government’s refusal to act on agreed issues despite repeated promises.

Molwus listed ASUU’s major demands to include the payment of earned academic allowances, unpaid and withheld salaries, promotion arrears, revitalisation funds, arrears of wage awards, responsibility allowances, and unremitted third-party deductions.

The union also demanded the reinstatement of victimized members in some universities and the immediate signing and implementation of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.

He dismissed the government’s proposed Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF) loan scheme, describing it as “a poison chalice.”

According to him, lecturers are not in need of loans but the payment of their legitimate entitlements. “What we need is for government to sign our renegotiated agreement, which will improve our purchasing power and reduce reliance on debts,” he stressed.

The branch also expressed concern that renegotiation of the 2009 agreement has dragged for over eight years without closure, eroding trust in government. “Time is running out. Trust has been destroyed. It is therefore up to the Federal Government to regain it in order to avert any strike,” Molwus warned.

However, ASUU National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, who joined the protest at Plateau State University (PLASU), Bokkos, reinforced the union’s position, stressing that ASUU remains one body.

“The demand in any State University is the demand of every federal university. Any member short-changed in one institution is as good as one victimized in another. Our charter is one,” he said.

Piwuna noted that negotiations on the 2009 agreement, which cover funding, conditions of service, autonomy, academic freedom, and review of university laws, were concluded in December 2023, yet government has not acted. “We finished negotiations with this government last year. From February till now, what has been done?” he asked, warning that ASUU is “ready to move” if nothing changes.

At PLASU, unresolved local issues have further strained relations. The branch accused management of unilaterally implementing a disputed template on Earned Academic Allowance despite earlier agreements with the state government to set aside ₦20 million monthly. Instead, management introduced a ₦10 million monthly plan, which ASUU rejected, describing it as a “recipe for disharmony.”

Other grievances at PLASU include pension deductions, gratuity funds administration, staff quarters, postgraduate programme remuneration, health insurance, electricity supply, road networks, and staff buses. While commending the state government for fencing the university, the union insisted that substantive interventions were required.

ASUU also demanded respect for International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, removal of academics from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and an end to the politicisation of vice-chancellor appointments.

The union recalled that President Bola Tinubu, during ASUU’s nationwide strike in 2022 and his campaign rallies, promised to resolve their demands. But more than two years into his administration, the assurances remain unfulfilled.

“We are not eager for a fight, but once we start, stopping us will be difficult. Government must act now to avert another nationwide crisis,” Piwuna cautioned.

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