The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have teamed up to find a permanent solution to the frequent disruptions in the academic calendars of Nigerian universities. The NLC gave the government a four-week deadline to finish negotiations with all academic and non-academic unions in higher education institutions.
On Monday, the NLC met with leaders from ASUU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, and others to discuss the ongoing university strike and other issues affecting workers in tertiary institutions. The meeting took place at the NLC’s national headquarters in Abuja.
The NLC invited union leaders from various tertiary institutions to work together on lasting solutions to problems caused by failed negotiations with the Federal Government. Nigeria’s higher education system has faced ongoing instability, with the latest issue causing universities nationwide to close due to ASUU’s strike.
ASUU’s National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, announced the strike on Sunday at the University of Abuja after a 14-day ultimatum to the government expired on September 28. The union listed unresolved issues, including staff welfare, infrastructure, unpaid salaries, and the implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement.
Recent negotiations failed to stop the strike. Two weeks ago, Education Minister Tunji Alausa said talks were nearly complete, mentioning that the government released N50bn for earned academic allowances and allocated N150bn in the 2025 budget for a needs assessment, to be paid in three parts. However, ASUU said these steps were not enough.
ASUU is demanding full implementation of the 2009 agreement, payment of three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries, sustainable funding for universities, protection from victimization, payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, and release of withheld deductions for cooperatives and union contributions.
The NLC expressed full support for ASUU and other tertiary education unions, urging all union leaders to participate actively. It also supported the principle of “No Pay, No Work,” pressing the government to honor agreements and respect workers’ rights.
At the end of the meeting, NLC President Joe Ajaero told journalists, “We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiation in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU. That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NEC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country will be involved so that we get to the root of all this. The era of signing agreements, negotiations and threatening the unions involved, that era has come to an end.”
The NLC criticized the government’s no-work-no-pay policy, which was used to punish striking ASUU members. Ajaero said, “The policy, the so-called policy of no work, no pay, will henceforth be no pay, no work. You can’t benefit from an action you instigated. We have discovered that most, 90 per cent of strike actions in this country, are caused by failure to obey agreements.”
ASUU’s National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, supported the NLC’s stance, saying the union would no longer negotiate with government representatives who lack the authority to make decisions. He stated, “we would no longer accept a situation where government will appoint its representatives to a meeting. You ask them whether they have a mandate to negotiate on the part of government. They say yes, only for them to turn back and bring to that same table offers that were totally out of what you had agreed with them, claiming that that is what their principal gave them. We will fully back the Nigerian Labour Congress in ensuring that that era where people would say they have mandates and turn around to bring to you alien documents to an agreement is totally over. We are willing to work with all our comrades to ensure that government does not take our unions for granted anymore and that government gives education the attention that it rightly deserves.”
The ASUU strike is now in its eighth day today (Tuesday). Last week, ASUU declared a two-week warning strike, which faced strong opposition from the government, leading to the no-work-no-pay policy announced by the Tunji Alausa-led Ministry of Education.
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