FG betrayed our trust, we’re disappointed — ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure Zone, has expressed deep concern over President Bola Tinubu’s failure to address the union’s demands since he assumed office two years ago, describing the administration’s posture as a betrayal of trust.

To this end, the aggrieved lecturers have threatened to shut down all campuses under the zone to press home their demands, which include but are not limited to: full implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, sustainable funding of Nigerian universities, revitalisation of the university system, payment of outstanding 25–35% salary arrears, stagnated promotions for over four years, unremitted third-party deductions, and the victimisation of colleagues at LASU, KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University), and FUTO.

Addressing journalists during a press conference at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Akure Zone, Professor Adéọlá Ẹgbẹ́dòkun, explained that despite repeated calls and agitations, the government had deliberately turned a deaf ear to their demands.

He noted that the report of the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed-led re-negotiation committee, painstakingly concluded and submitted since February 2025, had been treated with reckless indifference, describing the development as a clear betrayal of trust and an insult to the principle of collective bargaining.

According to him, “Lecturers have been pushed to the edge, and their patience has been stretched to breaking point. They will fight back, and the consequences will be damning unless the government takes decisive steps to address their demands during the meeting scheduled for Thursday.

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“While we take note of the government’s planned meeting of August 28, 2025, let it be clear that the clock is ticking, and time is no longer on the government’s side. Our patience has been stretched to its limit. Trust has been shattered, and only decisive government action can mend it. The NEC has resolved that all options remain on the table. If the 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 Ẹgbẹ́dòkun also urged members not to accept the loan policy introduced by the Federal Government, describing it as an attempt to plunge academics 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 three and a half months of withheld salaries, honour the agreement you signed, and 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,” he declared.

Calling for the intervention of stakeholders across the country, the union leader said:
“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 travelled 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.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE