FG/ASUU deal: New dawn for Nigerian universities
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By Joseph Erunke
For more than two decades, Nigeria’s public universities have lived under the shadow of uncertainty. Lecture halls being abandoned mid-semester, academic calendars stretching beyond endurance, and students trapped in a cycle of hope and frustration.
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On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, in Abuja, however, a different narrative began to take shape as the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, sealed what many now describe as the most consequential pact in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
The unveiling of the 2025 Federal Government–ASUU Agreement was not just another signing ceremony. It was a symbolic closure of a long, bitter chapter and a cautious opening into what both sides hope would be an era of stability, trust and reform.
Standing before education stakeholders, government officials and union leaders, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, captured the weight of the moment. “This is more than the unveiling of a document. It symbolises renewed trust, restored confidence, and a decisive turning point in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education system,” he said.
For years, negotiations between ASUU and successive governments had been marked by suspicion and breakdowns. Agreements were signed, partially implemented or abandoned, leading to recurring strikes that paralysed universities and disrupted the lives of millions of students.
This time, the tone was different.
Alausa credited President Bola Tinubu for personally driving the resolution of what had become a two-decade-old quagmire.
According to the minister, the president’s intervention marked the first time a sitting Nigerian leader confronted the ASUU crisis with sustained attention and political will.
“Dialogue over discord, reform over delay, and resolution over rhetoric,” Alausa said, describing the philosophy that guided the negotiations.
At the heart of the agreement is a 40 per cent upward review of academic staff emoluments, approved by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and set to take effect from January 1, 2026. For lecturers long battered by inflation and eroding purchasing power, the announcement was both symbolic and practical.
Beyond salaries, the agreement restructures welfare in a way that directly links remuneration to productivity and global competitiveness. Academic staff pay will now comprise the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary, CONUASS, and a strengthened Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, CATA, covering critical needs such as research, journal publications, conference participation, internet access and book development.
Nine Earned Academic Allowances have also been redefined, clearly tied to duties including postgraduate supervision, fieldwork, clinical responsibilities, examinations and leadership roles, an attempt to replace ambiguity with transparency.
Perhaps most striking is the introduction of a Professorial Cadre Allowance, the first of its kind in Nigeria’s university system. Under the new scheme, Professors will earn N1.74 million annually, while Readers will receive N840,000, recognising the heavy academic, administrative and research burdens they carry.
“This intervention is not cosmetic. It is structural, practical and transformative, “Alausa said.
ASUU President, Professor Chris Piwuna, did not hide the union’s relief, but neither did he mask its frustration.
“The 2009 agreement was due for renegotiation in 2012,” he recalled, adding that,”it dragged on for this long because of poverty of sincerity in government.”
What was unveiled, he explained, was the product of a struggle that began in 2017 and survived multiple failed renegotiation efforts,under Wale Babalakin, Munzali Jibrin and Nimi Briggs,before real progress emerged under the Yayale Ahmed-led committee inaugurated in October 2024.
“About 14 months later, we are here,” Piwuna said, noting that,”This agreement addresses conditions of service, funding, university autonomy, academic freedom and systemic reforms needed to reverse decay, curb brain drain and reposition our universities for national development.”
He reserved special praise for President Tinubu, Minister of Education,Tunji Alausa and Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the chair of the renegotiation committee, describing their commitment as “uncommon.”
“At one point, Mallam Yayale told me: ‘I stake my integrity on this. That is the highest possession I protect,’ Piwuna said.
Yet, even in celebration, ASUU raised red flags. Piwuna warned that university autonomy, widely regarded as the backbone of a functional higher education system, remains fragile in Nigeria. He accused governments of arbitrarily dissolving governing councils and interfering in the appointment of vice-chancellors, often imposing preferred candidates over merit-based selections.
“This erodes meritocracy, fuels conflict and creates legitimacy crises,” he said, also criticising the growing reliance on “acting vice-chancellors.”
He welcomed provisions in the agreement on research funding, revealing plans to forward a National Research Council Bill to the National Assembly proposing at least one per cent of GDP for research and development.
“Research funding is not a luxury; it is a necessity,” he stressed.
At the same time, he accused some university managements and governing councils of mismanaging funds secured through ASUU struggles, alleging rampant consultancy abuses and financial recklessness.
For Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad, the agreement was deeply personal. As an academic, she said she understood the pain of disrupted semesters, stalled mentorship and research conducted under severe constraints.
She described the pact as “the renewal of a covenant between government and the academic community,” signalling a shift from confrontation to collaboration.
“If faithfully implemented,” she said, “it will deliver industrial harmony, improved working conditions, enhanced teaching and research outcomes, and a more predictable academic calendar for students and their families.”
As the ceremony ended, one sentiment lingered in the hall: cautious optimism.
For students and parents weary of repeated shutdowns, the agreement offers hope that Nigerian universities may finally regain stability and global relevance. For lecturers, it promises dignity, improved welfare and a renewed sense of purpose. For the government, it is a test of credibility, one that will be judged not by signatures, but by implementation.
If honoured in full, the 2025 FG–ASUU Agreement could mark the moment Nigeria finally broke free from the cycle of strikes and stagnation, choosing dialogue and reform as the foundation for rebuilding its universities.
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