By Ovat Abeng
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Owerri Zone has urged the Nigerian Government (both federal and states) to allocate 30 percent budget to education sector.
The zone argue that the percentage, if implemented would go a long way in addressing some of the challenges confronting public universities in the country, particularly, issues relating to their welfare.
This was part of an appeal made by Prof Dennis Aribodor, coordinator ASUU-Owerri zone during a press conference held at the ASUU-UNIZIK complex in Awka on Thursday.
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According to Prof Aribodor, “The press conference is also meant to inform the public of the possibility of an imminent industrial crisis in the public universities across the country because of the insincerity of government (both federal and states) in addressing the lingering issues in the Nigerian university system (NUS).
“As you may be aware, our Union has been drawing the attention of the federal government to, and informing the public about the litany of problems bedeviling the NUS that require urgent attention.
“These problems include: * Conclusion of the Re-negotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, *Payment of withheld three and half months salary, *Payment of outstanding 25-35% salary arrears, *Payment of over four years promotion arrears, *Payment of third party deductions (Union, Cooperative Societies & Loans), *Release of Revitalization Fund for universities, * Sustainable funding of public universities, *Exit of Imo State University from Treasury Single Account among others. Regrettably, all these issues have not been addressed and our members are disappointed and deeply worried.Re-negotiating the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
“The Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement was due since 2012. Unfortunately, the renegotiation could not commence until 2017, which resulted in the Nimi Brigs Report of 2022. Following the new administration of Federal Government in 2023, the Alh. Yayale Ahmend Committee was inaugurated and the report of the Renegotiation was submitted in February 2025. Since the submission of the Report in February 2025, government has not processed the agreement for signing after six months.
“This ugly situation is quite troubling for our members as the agreement was meant to address major issues of welfare including salary and important governance issues in our universities. From all indications, it appears that government wants to jettison the principle of Collective Bargaining. Nigeria, as a signatory to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention cannot disregard one of the core principles of the organization, which is the Collective Bargaining Agreement “CBA”.
“We call on stakeholders implore the government to sign the draft agreement.Payment of Three and half months Withheld Salaries, Promotion Arrears and Third Party Deductions Gentlemen of the press, the labourer deserves his/her wages. And you cannot beat a child and ask him or her not to cry. Government felt that the best way to punish our member was to cease our salary during the 2022 ASUU nationwide strike. But the question is: what led to the strike? The strike was caused by the failure of government to honour various agreements reached with ASUU as evidence in many Memoranda of Understanding and Memoranda of Action. If government had implemented these agreements, would there be a strike? The answer is No. So government has no moral authority to continue to withhold our three and half month salaries.
The value of the money has grossly depreciated. We in ASUU Owerri Zone demand the immediate payment of all withheld salaries. We equally call on government to immediately pay all arrears of third party deductions. Salary payment is not complete without remittance of 3rd party deductions, and this is a criminal offence. Release of Revitalization Fund and Sustainable Funding for Our Universities in 2012, government set up a Needs Assessment Committee to determine the state of our public universities and what will be required to revitalize them for national response and global competitiveness. The Report as at then (2012) stated that Nigeria public universities requires about N1.3 Trillion over a space of 6 years for revitalization. Apart from the N200 Billion released to all public universities in 2014, virtually nothing has been released since then to address the rot.
“To tell you how bad it is, no Nigeria public university makes the first 1000 universities in the world in global ranking, whereas our counterparts in some African countries made the list. Is this not a shame for the giant of Africa, who should provide leadership in the education sector. Similar to this is the very poor budgetary allocation to education by government which hovers around 8% as against 15% stated in the APC Manifesto and 26% recommended by UNESCO. It is high time Nigeria government took adequate measures to fund education to accelerate all round development of the country. Nothing less than 26% is acceptable. Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF)ASUU Owerri Zone joins the National leadership of the Union in decisively rejecting TISSF. For us, TISSF is a poisoned chalice which should not be taken by our members. Our members are already deep in debt from loans and should not be burdened further. What is expected of government is to pay all our outstanding arrears including the arrears of 25-35% wage award, and sign the Renegotiated Agreement. This not loan will improve the lot of our members. Let us not forget that he who goes borrowing goes sorrowing.
“Government should not be the one pushing our members into sorrow. The Pain of Our Members in State Universities in ASUU Owerri ZoneChukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University and Imo State University are the state universities in ASUU Owerri Zone, owned by the Anambra State Government and Imo State Government, respectively.
“Among the committee of state owned universities, these two universities are among the worst in terms of issues of welfare among our members when compared with state universities in other regions of the country. As an illustration, there is no implementation of 25-35% wage award which commenced in 2022, and payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) in any of these two universities. The operation of Treasury Single Account in IMSU hampers academic activities and stifles progress in the university. Imo State University should Be exited from Treasury Single Account in line with University Autonomy. These ugly situations including the withholding of salaries of some of our members in COOU are unacceptable to ASUU Owerri Zone. We therefore call on the Visitors (who are the state governors) and Governing Councils of these universities, to urgently address welfare issues in these universities.
“In view of the above issues of great concern to our members and the university system, ASUU Owerri Zone hereby invites the general public to note that ASUU has patiently tried in several ways to get government to resolve the issues in contention. Regrettably, government has not done the needful in addressing the issues and our patience is exhausted. We plead with all well meaning stakeholders to assist in urging the government to do the needful by signing our Renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, pay the withheld salary of three and half months, promotion arrears, remit 3rd party deductions, release the revitalization fund and significantly improve the education budget.
“These are our demands to guarantee industrial harmony in our universities, Aribodor concluded.
The ASUU Owerri Zone comprising; Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State University (IMSU) Owerri, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka, Anambra State.
