David Williams
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure Zone has expressed deep concern over President Bola Tinubu’s failure to attend to the various demands of the Union since his assumption of office.
Addressing journalists during a press conference held at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, the Zonal Coordinator, Akure Zone, Professor Adéọlá Ẹgbẹ́dòkun explained that government had deliberately turned deaf ear to their demands despite several calls and agitations by the lecturers.
The angry lecturers have threatened to shutdown all campuses under the zone in order to press home their demands which are but not limited to implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, sustainable funding of Nigerian universities, revitalization of the university system, payment of outstanding 25–35% salary arrears, stagnated promotions for over four years, unremitted third-party deductions, victimization of colleagues in LASU, KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University), and FUTO.
According to him, the lecturers have been pushed to the edge and their patience has been stretched to its breaking point, hence it would fight back and the consequences would be damning except the government took a decisive step to attend to all their requests during her meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The ASUU Zonal Chairman confirmed that the report of the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed-led re-negotiation, painstakingly concluded and submitted since February 2025, has been treated with with reckless indifference, describing such development as a clear betrayal of trust and an insult to the principle of collective bargaining.
He said:”While we take note of the government’s planned meeting of August 28, 2025, let it be clear the clock is ticking, and time is no longer on the government’ s side. Our patience has been stretched to its breaking point. Trust has been shattered, and only decisive
government action can mend it. The NEC has resolved that all options remain on thebtable. If government chooses provocation over responsibility, if it continues to play games with the future of our Universities, then it alone must bear the consequences of the storm that will follow. The ball is squarely in the government’s court”.
Professor Egbedokun appealed to members not to subscribe to a loan policy introduced by the Federal Government saying it was an attempt to throw them into perpetual bondage.
“This loan policy is nothing but a crude distraction and a sinister snare. It is designed to suffocate our members, undermine our cooperative societies, and push them into
perpetual bondage, struggling to pay for healthcare, shelter, and the education of their children.
” To force academics into a cycle of debt for their survival is not only heartless, it is wicked, reckless, and utterly contemptuous of the sacrifices we make for this nation. Instead of dangling loans like poisonous bait, the government must face its moral and contractual obligations. Pay the outstanding 3 ½ months of withheld salaries. Honor the agreement you signed. Respect the dignity of those who build and sustain the knowledge
economy.
“We therefore call on our members: shun this deceitful loan scheme. Do not fall into the trap. Stand firm and demand what is rightfully yours. We will not be silenced. We will not be enslaved by debt. And we will not relent until justice is done.
“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians NIREC, NANS, traditional rulers, and the National Assembly to caution the government against pushing us into avoidable
confrontation. For over two years, we have kept faith with the promise of dialogue and refrained from strike actions, but our patience has reached its limits. Our resources are
drained, our tanks are dry, and this long road cannot be traveled any further without genuine results.
“lecturers have remained frozen, stagnant, and insultingly irrelevant in today’s economy. It has become a bitter irony that the very lecturers who educate the nation cannot afford to pay their own children’s school fees. Meanwhile, the government brandishes so-called economic growth figures phantom statistics, doctored indices, hollow numbers meant to deceive the public.
“These fictitious claims of prosperity are a cruel joke when Nigerians are drowning daily in hunger, poverty, and despair. For us, the reality is clear: the government’s propaganda does not put food on our tables, does not pay our children’s school fees, and does not restore dignity to the Nigerian academic”.
Meanwhile, the lecturers held a peaceful demonstration at their various campuses to test run their future action.
