ASUU to Government: Stop Turning Universities Into Political Trading Posts

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.

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.

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.

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