Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities staged nationwide protests today to draw attention to what they see as the government’s neglect of long-standing demands. At the University of Jos, lecturers marched before briefing the press, where they rejected the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme, describing it as inadequate to address their challenges.
Similar demonstrations were held at the University of Lagos, where lecturers carried placards demanding the payment of arrears, improved welfare, and a renegotiation of the 2009 agreement between the union and the Federal Government.
Speaking at the University of Abuja, the lecturers argued that offering loans to staff does not solve the deeper issue of unpaid entitlements.
The protests also spread to the University of Benin and the Federal University Gusau, where lecturers called on the government to honour the 2009 agreement or risk another strike. At Gusau, union leaders lamented that salaries withheld during the 2020 strike remain unpaid, alongside promotion arrears and wage award arrears spanning several months.
At the Federal University Dutse, staff members joined the protests, accusing the government of withholding three months of salaries and other entitlements. ASUU insisted that lecturers do not need loans but immediate payment of outstanding salaries, allowances, revitalisation funds, and third-party deductions. The union warned that the government’s refusal to act could once again disrupt industrial harmony in Nigerian universities.
