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ASUU Protest Hits Varsities, Fresh Strike Threat Looms Ahead of FG Talks.
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Demands include withheld salaries, revitalisation funds, and rejection of loan scheme.
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Lecturers warn strike is imminent if talks fail to address grievances.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) staged protests across campuses nationwide on Tuesday, demanding urgent action from the Federal Government ahead of a decisive meeting scheduled for Thursday in Abuja.
From Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to the University of Calabar, University of Maiduguri, Federal University of Technology, Akure, and Abia State University, lecturers marched with placards, chanting solidarity songs and warning of an imminent strike if government continued to ignore their concerns.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the demands, consistent across campuses, include full implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, release of three and a half months of withheld salaries, payment of outstanding arrears, revitalisation of universities, rejection of the proposed tertiary staff loan scheme, and adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) over IPPIS to safeguard autonomy.
At Obafemi Awolowo University, ASUU Chairperson Prof. Tony Odiwe accused government of deliberately stalling on the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation report submitted in February 2025, stressing that lecturers had remained on the same salary scale since 2009. “If industrial peace collapses, government will be responsible,” he said.
In Akure, Zonal Coordinator Prof. Adeola Egbedokun declared that patience among lecturers had reached breaking point. “Our members teach on empty stomachs, live in debt, and cannot meet basic needs,” he said.
Protests also drew strong participation in Sokoto, Lafia, Plateau State, Ilorin, and Umuahia, where lecturers decried unpaid salaries, poor welfare, and the erosion of university autonomy. At Plateau State University, National President Prof. Chris Piwuna joined members to denounce low pay and unpaid allowances.
Placards at various campuses bore messages such as “University workers are not slaves” and “Honour your agreement with ASUU.”
Lecturers warned that if Thursday’s talks failed to yield concrete commitments, campuses nationwide could once again be shut by strike action.
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