Monday, September 1, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About Time Africa Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » News » ASUU to Government: Stop Turning Universities Into Political Trading Posts

ASUU to Government: Stop Turning Universities Into Political Trading Posts

Reinstating Alvan Ikoku Acting VC Jeopardizes Institutional Credibility and Dismantles Academic Standards"

August 10, 2025
in News
0
549
SHARES
4.6k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Abuja, NIGERIA  — “Our union is also gravely concerned by decisions of some governing councils at the federal and state universities,” the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared this week, firing a fresh warning shot over what it calls the commodification of public tertiary institutions by political interests.

In a statement issued on August 8, ASUU President Christopher Piwuna condemned what he described as a growing trend of Vice Chancellor appointments driven by political expediency rather than merit and academic credibility.

Universities that are built on merit and scholarship are being turned into commodities for politicians and contractors, the statement read.

The union specifically pointed to the attempted reinstatement of the acting Vice Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku University of Education, despite what it called clear evidence that her promotion to Reader and Professor was fraught with contradictions. ASUU argues this case is not isolated, warning that similar politically influenced appointments are quietly unfolding across other federal universities — threatening institutional integrity, academic freedom, and public trust.

ReadAlso

The Pro-Chancellor’s Shadow: Behind the Power Struggle Tearing FUOYE Apart

Tinubu Imposes 7-Year Ban On Establishment Of New Federal Universities, Polytechnics, Others

The accusation is the latest addition to a growing list of grievances ASUU has lodged against federal and state authorities in recent years. The union says that Nigerian universities — once considered bastions of critical thought and innovation — are being dismantled by successive governments more interested in optics than in reform.

Central to its ongoing protest is the stalled renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement. Although a new draft was submitted to the government by the Yayale Ahmed-led committee in December 2024, the document has languished without formal adoption for eight months — a delay ASUU says encapsulates the state’s disregard for higher education.

ADVERTISEMENT

The government needs to go beyond words and act on our outstanding issues, Piwuna said, rejecting recent comments from Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa that strikes in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions were a thing of the past.

While the government speaks of dialogue and diplomacy, ASUU paints a grimmer picture from within Nigeria’s public universities. Lecturers, the union says, are working under demoralizing conditions: unpaid promotion arrears, skyrocketing living costs, deteriorating infrastructure, and research labs stripped of even the most basic materials.

They teach students on empty stomachs. They conduct research in libraries and laboratories bereft of essential books, chemicals and journals, ASUU stated.

Meanwhile, elite Nigerians, the union claims, continue to criticize universities for producing unemployable graduates — without addressing the material decay and bureaucratic dysfunction that render quality education near-impossible.

ASUU has consistently criticized the government’s habit of entering — and then ignoring — labor agreements. The union invoked the International Labour Organization’s Conventions 98 and 154, which guarantee the right to collective bargaining. But successive administrations, it says, have flouted these standards, opting instead for tokenistic implementation, selective renegotiations, and empty promises.

They pick and choose what aspect(s) of the package to renegotiate and implement. They discountenance the morale of intellectual workers, the union charged.

Particularly galling, according to ASUU, is the government’s offer to lure Nigerian academics in the diaspora as volunteers under a proposed Diaspora Bridge program. The union calls the move hypocritical, given the neglect and mistreatment of scholars still working in Nigeria.

The crisis goes beyond economics. For ASUU, the treatment of lecturers reflects a deeper malaise: a state that punishes critical voices and undermines intellectual labor cannot lay claim to democracy.

When a government punishes its citizens for demanding what is due to them, can it have any moral claim to democratic culture? the statement asked.

ASUU also lambasted the continued use of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), which it calls corrupt and punitive. Though the system was ostensibly introduced to curb fraud, ASUU claims it has become a weapon to discipline dissent and stifle autonomy.

With a long history of disruptive strikes — most recently in 2020 — the union’s new warnings carry the weight of experience. It called on all genuine patriots to pressure Nigeria’s federal and state governments to end the cycle of neglect and deception.

Memoranda of Understanding and Action — signed in 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2020 — have failed to resolve core issues, ASUU argues. Without a binding, implemented Collective Bargaining Agreement that addresses staff welfare, funding, and academic independence, the union says industrial action is inevitable.

The time to act is now, Piwuna concluded. No memorandum or discussion can take the place of a Collective Bargaining Agreement.

.

 

Tags: Alvan Ikoku University of EducationASUUeducation
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Nearly a Decade Later, Peter Obi’s Educational Legacy Resonates Beyond Borders

Next Post

Concerns, Criticisms Cast Shadow on Reinstatement of Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi as Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku University

You MayAlso Like

News

Ex-IGP Solomon Arase Dies at 69

August 31, 2025
The mountainous northern tip of Somalia’s Puntland State has become the base of operations of the Islamic State group’s al-Karrar office, which coordinates financing for the group’s terrorist operations across African, the Middle East and Central Asia. GETTY IMAGES/THE WASHINGTON POST
News

Terrorists Killed 150,000 Across Africa in Past Decade, Study Finds

August 31, 2025
News

Relics From an Ancient Egyptian ‘Party Town’ Are Pulled Out of the Sea

August 29, 2025
News

Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country is facing backlash over US migrant deal

August 28, 2025
News

Delta State at 34: A Beacon of Progress and Promise, says Rector Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi Uku

August 27, 2025
News

Passenger train derails in Nigeria, 6 passengers injured

August 26, 2025
Next Post

Concerns, Criticisms Cast Shadow on Reinstatement of Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi as Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku University

People interact using sign language during a church service at the Christian Mission for the Deaf in Lagos, Nigeria, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Inside a Nigerian church where deaf people find faith — ‘God understands us'

Discussion about this post

Inside the Battle for Ownership of Madonna University

Stolen Soil, Land Grabbing: Mburubu Community Sends SOS to Enugu Govt

Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country is facing backlash over US migrant deal

Sit-Down Interview With Anil Soni, Chief Executive Officer of WHO Foundation

Six beers that are good for your gut health – and the ones to avoid

NYSC Member Shares Harrowing Experience with Anambra Vigilantes

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1240 shares
    Share 496 Tweet 310
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1066 shares
    Share 426 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    972 shares
    Share 389 Tweet 243
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    904 shares
    Share 361 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

Ex-IGP Solomon Arase Dies at 69

August 31, 2025
The tallest bridge in the world begins pre-opening load tests in Guizhou province on Aug 21, 2025. (LIU QING / FOR CHINA DAILY)

China finishes world’s highest bridge

August 31, 2025
The mountainous northern tip of Somalia’s Puntland State has become the base of operations of the Islamic State group’s al-Karrar office, which coordinates financing for the group’s terrorist operations across African, the Middle East and Central Asia. GETTY IMAGES/THE WASHINGTON POST

Terrorists Killed 150,000 Across Africa in Past Decade, Study Finds

August 31, 2025

Prince Harry ‘to meet with King Charles’ when he returns to UK for anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death

August 29, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIME AFRICA biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About Time Africa Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.