Tinubu directs minister to resolve ASUU’s lingering demands

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has weighed in on the lingering face-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), directing the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, to ensure that all outstanding issues are resolved once and for all.

Meanwhile, Dr. Alausa has countered ASUU’s claims, stating that the Federal Government has never signed any binding agreement with the union. He clarified that what past administrations had with the staff unions were draft agreements, which were never formally signed by the parties.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after hosting Miss Nafisa Abdullah Aminu, a 17-year-old Yobe State student who recently won the world title in English Language Skills at the 2025 TeenEagle Global Finals in London, Alausa denied reports that he had a scheduled meeting with ASUU’s leadership on Thursday.

ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, also confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that no invitation for a meeting had been extended to the union.

“The union did not receive any formal invitation for a meeting,” he said.

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Alausa, however, explained that contrary to the reports, the government’s focus was not on a direct meeting with ASUU but rather on an internal session to review the union’s proposals and prepare a sustainable counter-offer.

“Today, I don’t know where the story came from that we were meeting ASUU. We did not plan to meet ASUU. What we did was meet on the government’s side, at the highest level, to carefully review their proposals line by line,” he said.

He further stressed that President Tinubu had given his team a clear mandate to resolve the lingering issues from the 2009 FGN–ASUU agreement “once and for all.”

“When the President came in, he told Nigerians he would put this country on a path of sustainability—not just for today, but for 10 years, 30 years, even into the future. He has directed us to solve this ASUU problem permanently, not superficially,” the Minister declared.

Alausa also revealed that a seven-member technical team has been set up to fine-tune the government’s counter-proposal before it is presented to the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiation committee for further engagement with ASUU.

According to him, the team will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and will include the Solicitor-General of the Federation, the Permanent Secretaries of Justice and Labour, the Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Executive Secretaries of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), as well as the Director-General of the Budget Office. The Director of University Education will serve as the secretary of the committee.

“We want this to be constitutional and sustainable. Previous agreements with ASUU were never truly signed by government. They were drafts, not binding agreements. This time, every clause must be actionable, implementable, and within the government’s capacity to fund.”

He emphasised that the era of making “bogus agreements” with the union was over. “We will not create an agreement that government cannot implement. Nigerians must be assured that this government will keep its children in school. ASUU are good people. All our unions are good people. But we must reach an agreement that is honest, truthful, and sustainable.”

The Minister reassured Nigerians of President Tinubu’s commitment to ending the crisis in the nation’s tertiary education system.

“This President fulfils every promise he makes. He has mandated us to work day and night to keep our universities open and our children in school. That is exactly what we are doing.”

On the nationwide protests held on campuses by university lecturers, Alausa said ASUU is free to protest but stressed that the union would not embark on strike, as the government has been in active talks with its leadership.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE