After 16 years of stalled negotiations and repeated industrial disputes, it is believed that if the recently signed renegotiated agreement between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities is implemented with sincerity, it will stabilise the country’s university system and end incessant ASUU strikes, Wale Igbintade writes
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n a move expected to stabilise Nigeria’s tertiary education system, the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently signed a landmark, long-awaited agreement that ends a 16-year impasse and industrial disputes.
The agreement aims to improve lecturers’ welfare, ensure industrial harmony, and end decades of disruptions in public universities. It follows more than 16 years of recurring strikes, beginning with a four-month stoppage in 2009 that produced the original pact.
Repeated failures to implement that agreement had triggered major shutdowns in 2010 and 2011, a six-month strike in 2013, followed by prolonged disruptions in 2017 and 2018, a nine-month strike in 2020, and an eight-month strike in 2022. A two-week warning strike in October 2025 over unresolved demands reopened talks, culminating in the new agreement.
Strikes have long been a nightmare for students in tertiary institutions. Although the government has repeatedly cited limited funds as the reason it cannot meet ASUU’s demands, the union insists that available information contradicts this claim and instead attributes the impasse to a lack of political will.
Each time there is a strike at the university, students suffer because it prolongs their stay in school. For instance, on many occasions, students end up spending six years in university for a four-year course.
This is what the new agreement, which replaces the 2009 FGN–ASUU pact, due for renegotiation in 2012 but left unresolved across several administrations, is meant to eliminate.
Those familiar with the details of the agreement are already commending President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, for their efforts in stabilizing the university system and putting an end to the incessant strikes that have set the universities back for many years.
The agreement marks the first time a sitting Nigerian president has prioritised resolving the prolonged dispute between ASUU and the federal government.
When President Tinubu, during his 2022 campaign, promised to end university strikes and restore stability to the academic calendar, many did not believe him. This he has achieved with the ASUU agreement.
After the agreement was reached and signed, Minister Alausa said the aim was to restore trust, guarantee uninterrupted academic calendars, and end the cycle of strikes in public universities.
Unveiling the agreement in Abuja, an elated Alausa described it as a historic turning point that would restore trust and confidence in the nation’s university system after years of strikes and instability.
On its part, ASUU said the agreement was the outcome of a renegotiation process that began in 2017 and passed through multiple failed committees before the current administration inaugurated the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiation committee in October 2024.
Under the new framework, academic remuneration will comprise the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary (CONUASS) and an enhanced Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA). The improved CATA is designed to support research activities, journal publications, conference participation, internet access, professional memberships, and book development, in a bid to enhance global competitiveness and curb brain drain.
The agreement also restructures nine Earned Academic Allowances, which are now clearly defined, transparently earned, and directly tied to specific academic responsibilities, such as postgraduate supervision, fieldwork, clinical duties, examinations, and leadership roles.
In another first for Nigeria’s university system, the federal government approved a Professorial Cadre Allowance for full-time Professors and Readers, recognizing their academic, administrative, and research responsibilities.
A major highlight of the agreement is a 40 per cent increase in university lecturers’ salaries, alongside improved conditions of service. Professors now earn an annual additional remuneration of N1.74 million, while readers on CONUAS 07 and 06 get N840,000 per year.
All lecturers qualify for Earned Academic Allowances, now divided into 9 types, including postgraduate supervision, teaching practice, industrial supervision, and field trip allowances, unlike before.
Full professors will retire at 70, with pensions calculated at 100 per cent of their annual salaries. This provision, however, remains contentious, as it revives the defined benefit scheme the government once failed to fund, leading to defaults and pension queu
For sustainability, it demands review to avoid a repeat of sordid episodes of the past and a future crisis of unpaid pensions.
Female academic staff will now benefit from six months’ maternity leave, while male counterparts receive two weeks’ paternity leave.
The federal government will continue to bear the full costs of primary schools for university staff, as well as capital costs for university secondary schools, as per the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement.
It will also provide a N30 billion Stabilisation and Restoration Fund, disbursed in three N10 billion instalments annually from 2026 to 2028. Yet this fund amounts to peanuts: the federal government alone owns 74 universities, and N10 billion yearly translates to just N135 million per institution, a mere drop in the ocean.
Despite the excitement from government and lecturers alike, cautious optimism is essential. The two sides have trodden this thorny path before, and history shows that the true test of such agreements lies in implementation.
From 2009 onward, the university system became a theatre of strikes with dire consequences for staff, students, the Ivory Tower, and the country. The federal government then signed an MoU to fund it at N1.2 trillion over seven years, but serviced it mostly in breach.
Nigeria’s education budget over the past decade has pitifully oscillated between five and 10.8 per cent, with recurrent expenditure devouring the lion’s share and starving institutions of new capital projects.
Funding shortfalls continue to cripple Nigerian universities. On many occasions, universities have not been able to provide power; laboratories remain ill-equipped; libraries lack modern books; research stalls; hostels are deplorable; and classrooms overflow.
The situation also led to massive brain drain, as professors and lecturers left the university system in droves in search of better opportunities abroad or in other sectors.
However, one major drawback of the agreement was the exclusion of non-teaching staff. This, to many, smacks of discrimination, risks fresh strikes, and undermines stability efforts. It must be swiftly addressed, as non-academic staff are equally important in the university community as academic staff. They are the lifeblood of institutions.
Stakeholders believe the deal ushers in a new era of stability and excellence in Nigerian universities, restoring predictability to academic calendars and renewed hope to students and parents nationwide.
Though the FG-ASUU agreement is exclusively applicable to federal universities, it demands a buy-in from state and private universities. With 67 institutions, states are pivotal; they cannot dodge reforms with excuses like inability to pay the N70,000 minimum wage. They must slash costs, prune institutions, plug leakages, and innovate to generate wealth.
Beyond welfare improvements, the agreement addressed broader systemic issues, including university funding, autonomy, academic freedom, and research development.
Now that the government has largely met lecturers’ demands, ASUU must return to classrooms with renewed vigour to render universities globally relevant.
This reform should spark competitiveness, creativity, innovation, and hard work in teaching, research, and community service, the bare minimum Nigerians demand.
THISDAY gathered that since the federal government started implementing the agreement on January 1, 2026, peace has returned to academia across the country. Both sides must vigilantly ensure these reforms succeed.
Reliable sources close to the Ministry of Education have confirmed that as ASUU members jubilate, agreements are also being drawn up for the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) to join the jubilation.
Once this is achieved, disruptions of academic activities in higher institutions in the country will come to an end.
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