- Cites FG’s failure to implement 2025 agreement
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nsukka Zone, has called on Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to address the December 2025 agreements in order to avert an impending strike.
The Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Christian Opata, made the call on Thursday while addressing journalists at the Benue State University, Makurdi, over the union’s demands which, according to him, are yet to be implemented five months after the government’s promise.
According to the ASUU Nsukka Zonal Chairman, the 2025 agreement, which was signed and scheduled to take effect from January 2026, has yet to be fully implemented due to the government’s inability to provide the financial backing needed for the smooth implementation of the components of the agreement.
Opata said the government had only implemented partial components of the agreement, adding that the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Allowances, Earned Academic Allowances, and Professorial Allowances were yet to be integrated into the Consolidated Academic Staff Salary Scale, which ought to form part of the monthly remuneration package for academics.
He regretted that while the union had intended to put an end to lingering welfare issues, the government’s actions appeared to be prolonging them.
Opata noted: “As of the time of holding this press conference, arrears arising from the 25–35 per cent salary award, promotion arrears, unpaid third-party deductions, including check-off dues, cooperative contributions, and pension remittances, salary shortfalls linked to the introduction of IPPIS, as well as the withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries resulting from the 2022 ASUU industrial action foisted on us by the government, remain unsettled, as our members are yet to be paid.”
The zonal chairman further said that, contrary to the 2025 agreement, the Federal Government was yet to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee designed to ensure the faithful execution of the agreement and prevent bureaucratic sabotage.
He added that part of what the Implementation Monitoring Committee was meant to guard against had already been undermined by the Federal Government, thereby giving rise to the flawed implementation of another major provision of the December 2025 agreement.
Comrade Opata further said that the proposed National Research Council announced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, in April did not involve the union, despite ASUU being one of the parties to the agreement.
Corroborating the zonal chairman, the National Investment Officer, Comrade Celesine Aguoru, said that if agreements signed by both parties could not be respected by the government, “Nigerians should hold the government responsible if universities are shut down.”
While stating that the union does not like embarking on strikes, Comrade Aguoru, however, called on Nigerians to help ASUU get the government to respond to their demands.