The Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), yesterday, threatened to paralyse academic activities over what it termed the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement an agreement it reached with the union in 2025 and unveiled in January 2026.

Chairman, Benin Zone of ASUU, Prof. Monday Igbafen, made the union’s position known in Benin while briefing journalists on the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement the agreement and the union’s plans.

Igbafen, flanked by other executives and members of the union drawn from nine universities that make up the Benin Zone, said despite the unveiling and the Federal Government’s promise of speedy and full implementation of the agreement, which ordinarily “would have been the end of years of struggle to renegotiate the 2009 agreement,” the same government has reneged.

The ASUU Zonal Chairman, who described the current implementation of allowance carried out by the Federal Government as distorted, accused the government of “selectively paying Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), and Professorial Allowances.

This, according to him, violates the agreement, which clearly states that all allowances must be mainstreamed into the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary Scale as part of monthly salaries for professors.”

The union further accused the government of “failure to inaugurate the IMC, which was meant to shield the agreement from bureaucratic sabotage.

Also, the Ibadan Zone of the union yesterday accused the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of failing to demonstrate sufficient commitment to resolving the lingering crisis in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector, warning that continued delay in implementing the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement could trigger fresh industrial unrest across universities.

The union also criticised both the federal and state governments over what it described as the slow, distorted and partial implementation of the agreement signed with ASUU in December 2025 after nearly eight years of negotiations.

ASUU raised the concerns during a media briefing held at the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan.

The Zonal Coordinator, Prof. ‘Biodun Olaniran, among others, expressed disappointment that five months after the agreement was signed, many of its provisions remain either partially implemented or completely ignored by both the federal and state governments.

The union, therefore, warned that failure to fully implement the agreement amounts to “an invitation to industrial unrest” capable of destabilising peace and academic stability in public universities.

ASUU accused the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, of turning the agreement into “a political campaign” rather than focusing on genuine implementation capable of addressing longstanding challenges in the education sector.

It, however, appealed to President Tinubu, the National Assembly, the judiciary, religious leaders, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders to urgently intervene to prevent what it described as a looming crisis in the university system.

ASUU opposed the proposed Nigeria Education Repository Databank (NERD), saying that the policy raises concerns over intellectual property rights and the protection of academic materials under the Nigeria Data Protection Act.

It also decried what it described as increasing political interference in university administration, particularly in the appointment of vice-chancellors and other principal officers, as well as restrictions on staff recruitment, despite claims of university autonomy. (The Guardian News)

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