By Ovasa Ogaga,
The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have unveiled a renegotiated 2025 agreement aimed at ending recurrent strikes and restoring stability to Nigeria’s public universities, with a 40 per cent salary increase for lecturers as a major highlight.
The agreement, unveiled Wednesday in Abuja, concludes a renegotiation process that began in 2017 to review the 2009 FG–ASUU pact, which was due for revision in 2012. Several past committees failed to produce results until the current administration inaugurated a Yayale Ahmed-led committee in October 2024, leading to a breakthrough about 14 months later.
Under the deal, academic staff salaries will rise by 40 per cent, effective January 1, 2026, structured around the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary and a Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance. The tools allowance will support research, publications, conferences, internet access, professional memberships and book procurement, to boost productivity and curb brain drain.
Nine earned academic allowances were also restructured to ensure transparency and link payments strictly to duties performed, while a Professorial Cadre Allowance was approved for the first time. Full professors will earn ₦1.74 million annually, while readers will receive ₦840,000, a move the government described as “structural and transformative.”
Speaking at the event, Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the agreement signalled a decisive shift toward uninterrupted academic calendars and improved welfare.
“This agreement goes beyond a formal document. It represents renewed trust, restored confidence, and a decisive turning point in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education system,” Alausa said.
He credited President Bola Tinubu with personally driving the process, noting that, “for the first time in the history of our country, a sitting President took full ownership of this long-standing challenge.”
According to the minister, the administration chose “dialogue over discord, reform over delay, and resolution over rhetoric,” adding that the deal ushers in “a new era of stability, dignity, and excellence” for Nigerian universities.
However, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, while acknowledging the breakthrough, warned that deep-rooted structural and governance problems still threaten the sustainability of the university system.
“The 2009 agreement was due for renegotiation after three years, but it dragged on for this long due to the poverty of sincerity in the government,” Piwuna said.
He noted that unresolved issues, such as government interference in university autonomy, weak accountability, inadequate research funding, and declining academic standards, remain major concerns.
"University autonomy is universally recognised as a cornerstone of a functional higher education system. In Nigeria, although it is recognised in principle, its practical implementation remains weak,” he said.
Piwuna accused authorities of arbitrarily dissolving governing councils, imposing vice-chancellors and skewing appointment processes to favour political interests, warning that such practices erode meritocracy and fuel internal crises.
ASUU also raised concerns over poor research funding, calling for the speedy passage of the National Research Council Bill, which proposes allocating at least one per cent of GDP to research and innovation.
Beyond the university system, the union linked the agreement’s success to Nigeria’s broader economic challenges, citing inflation, the removal of fuel subsidies, naira devaluation, insecurity, and declining real wages.
“The country is in dire straits and propaganda is not the option,” ASUU warned, adding that “the country must be rescued and rebuilt in the interest of the people.”
While expressing willingness to work with the government, the union said its optimism remains guarded, hoping it would not need to resort to strike action to secure full implementation of the 2025 agreement.
