Academic activities across Nigerian universities face fresh uncertainty, with members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) staging nationwide protests and leaving students unattended to.
The protest has further raised fears of another prolonged strike in the country’s higher education system.
The demonstrations, held simultaneously in several states, saw lecturers carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs. They demanded that the federal government address lingering issues of unpaid salaries, withheld allowances, and inadequate funding for public universities.
ASUU leaders accused the government of being insensitive to the plight of lecturers and students, warning that the protests were a prelude to possible industrial action if urgent steps were not taken.
In Abuja, lecturers marched around the university gates, demanding the release of outstanding earned academic allowances and revitalisation funds. Similar protests also occurred in Lagos, Akure, Jos, and other university towns.
Speaking during the protest, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, chairman of the ASUU, Yakubu Gowon University chapter, said the action was to draw attention to the hardship faced by academic staff across the country.
He lamented that lecturers had remained on the same salary structure since 2009, despite repeated promises of review every three years. According to him, the 2009 agreement, which should have been renegotiated in 2012, was only revisited in 2017 and concluded in February 2025 under the Elijah Yayale Ahmed-led committee.
“Since that report was submitted, we have not heard anything from the federal government. Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult for our members to cope. All over the nation, you hear of the deaths of academic staff, many of which are stress-related,” Ugoh said.
Earlier, the zonal coordinator of ASUU Akure Zone, Professor Adeola Egbedokun, expressed concern at the federal government’s alleged failure to attend to the union’s demands since President Bola Tinubu assumed office two years ago.
At a press conference at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Egbedokun said the government’s inaction had stretched lecturers’ patience to breaking point.
He listed ASUU’s demands to include implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, sustainable funding of universities, revitalisation of infrastructure, payment of outstanding salary arrears, stagnated promotions, unremitted third-party deductions, and an end to the victimisation of members in some institutions.
“We will fight back, and the consequences would be damning except the government takes a decisive step to attend to our requests urgently. While we take note of the government’s planned meeting of August 28, 2025, let it be clear that the clock is ticking,” he said.
He warned that ASUU’s National Executive Committee had resolved that all options remain on the table. He urged well-meaning Nigerians, the National Assembly, and traditional rulers to intervene before the situation degenerates.
At Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, lecturers suspended scheduled examinations as part of the protest. Professors, associate professors, and senior lecturers marched along major routes carrying placards with inscriptions such as: “Our salaries are too poor,” “Pay us sustainable living salaries,” and “We are FG lecturers, not borrowers.”
