The Academic Staff Union of Universities has accused the Federal Government of failing to fully implement the 2025 FG/ASUU Agreement, barely five months after both parties signed the deal aimed at restoring stability to Nigerian universities.
ASUU, Abuja Zone, said contrary to recent claims by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, that the agreement had been fully implemented, lecturers across federal and state universities were still battling unpaid entitlements, salary shortfalls, pension crises and irregular welfare packages.
Speaking during a press conference held at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, on Monday, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Abuja Zone, Adamu Al-Abdullahi, warned that the government’s failure to faithfully implement the agreement could trigger fresh industrial unrest in public universities.
He said, “It is exactly five months since the fanfare that accompanied the signing of the FG/ASUU Agreement after a protracted negotiation spanning eight years. However, the claim that the FG has fully implemented the agreement is far from the realities on ground in federal universities.”
The union accused the Federal Government of abandoning the implementation framework agreed upon during negotiations and allowing universities to apply the agreement selectively.
According to Abdullahi, the government failed to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee meant to ensure uniform execution of the agreement and prevent bureaucratic bottlenecks.
“The FG has left it to individual universities to implement in a distorted and uncoordinated manner,” he said.
ASUU alleged that university administrators were now “picking and choosing” which components of approved allowances to pay, including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, Earned Academic Allowance and Professorial Allowance.
The union also faulted some state governors for allegedly turning their backs on the agreement despite their representatives participating in the negotiation process.
Beyond implementation concerns, ASUU raised fresh alarm over lingering welfare issues affecting lecturers nationwide.
The union listed unresolved matters to include arrears of the 25–35 per cent salary award, promotion arrears, withheld salaries linked to the 2022 ASUU strike, unpaid pension contributions and unremitted third-party deductions.
“We want to sound this clear, no country can progress when the welfare issues of academics are left unattended,” Abdullahi declared.
He further criticised the Federal Government’s application of the “No Work, No Pay” policy against lecturers who participated in the 2022 industrial action, insisting that university lecturers continued research and community service activities even during strikes.
“Withholding salaries of university lecturers on account of ‘no work, no pay’ is like reducing scholars to menial workers whose livelihood is anchored in physical appearances at their worksite,” he said.
ASUU also accused pension authorities of frustrating retired academics through delayed harmonisation of pension benefits and alleged that some state universities still had no functional pension scheme for workers.
The union additionally expressed concern over what it described as growing irregularities in university administration, including questionable appointments and the emergence of positions such as “Professor of Practice” and “Diaspora Professors.”
According to ASUU, some of the appointments were being made outside established university procedures and without the knowledge of university senates and governing councils.
“In the process, people with doubtful academic credentials find their way into the university system and some even rise to become vice chancellors,” the union alleged.
The latest complaints from ASUU come despite repeated assurances by the Federal Government that the 2025 agreement would permanently address the longstanding disputes that have triggered multiple university strikes over the years.
The 2025 FG/ASUU Agreement was widely celebrated after years of negotiations over university funding, lecturers’ welfare, earned allowances and the contentious Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
Nigeria’s public university system has suffered repeated disruptions over the last decade due to prolonged ASUU strikes, with lecturers insisting that governments routinely fail to honour agreements reached with the union.
