Samuel Omang
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday unleashed coordinated protests across campuses nationwide, two days before a decisive meeting with the Federal Government in Abuja.
From Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to the University of Maiduguri, lecturers poured into the streets with placards and chants, warning of an imminent strike if the government fails to honour long-standing agreements.
The lecturers renewed demands for implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN pact, payment of withheld salaries and arrears, revitalisation funds, and rejection of the government’s proposed tertiary staff loan scheme. They also insisted on the adoption of UTAS over IPPIS to protect university autonomy.
At OAU, ASUU Chairperson, Prof. Tony Odiwe, accused the government of stalling on the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation report submitted since February. “We have been on the same salary scale since 2009. Enough is enough,” he declared.
In Akure, Southwest Zonal Coordinator Prof. Adeola Egbedokun said patience had snapped: “Our members teach on empty stomachs, live in debt, and can no longer afford basic needs. If provocation continues, the government must bear the consequences.”
At Lafia, Branch Chair Sunday Orinya lamented the deaths of lecturers due to hardship, while in Sokoto, Prof. Nurudeen Almustapha dismissed the government’s loan scheme as a “poisoned chalice.”
Protests at Plateau State University were joined by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Shedrack Best, and ASUU’s National President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, who denounced the assault on university autonomy. At UNILORIN, placards screamed: “University workers are not slaves” and “Honour your agreement with ASUU.”
From Calabar to Maiduguri, Osogbo to Umuahia, the chorus was the same: without urgent intervention, the fragile calm in universities will collapse into another nationwide strike.