The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday staged coordinated protests across campuses nationwide to press home long-standing demands from the Federal Government, two days before a crucial meeting scheduled for Thursday in Abuja.
From Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to Federal University of Lafia, University of Ilorin, University of Calabar, Abia State University, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Federal University of Technology Akure, Plateau State University, University of Maiduguri, and Osun State University, lecturers marched with placards, chanting solidarity songs and warning of an imminent strike if government continued to ignore their plight.
Across the campuses, the demands remained consistent: implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, release of three and a half months withheld salaries, payment of outstanding 25–35 per cent salary arrears, promotion arrears, revitalisation of universities, rejection of the government’s proposed tertiary institution staff loan scheme, and adoption of UTAS over IPPIS to preserve university autonomy.
At OAU, ASUU Chairperson, Prof. Tony Odiwe, said lecturers had remained on the same salary scale since 2009 and accused the government of deliberately stalling on the report of the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation committee submitted in February 2025.
He warned that the government would be held responsible if industrial peace on campuses collapsed.
Similarly, ASUU’s Akure Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Adeola Egbedokun, declared at FUOYE that patience among academics had reached a breaking point.
“Our members teach on empty stomachs, live in debt, and can no longer afford basic needs. If the government chooses provocation over responsibility, then it alone must bear the consequences,” he said.
