By JEFF GODWIN DOKI, Ph.D

A time has come when silence before the deceit of the present Nigerian government shall be tantamount to collusion with social evil. The government’s façade of normality, its chronic economic mismanagement (removal of fuel subsidy and a huge penchant for borrowing), its claim to be waging war against terrorism, its announcement of fantastic growth figures while the economy continues to deteriorate and many other poisonous and divisive flattery have given rise to a series of tragedies in the country. We are confronted with a reality of citizens burying their loved ones to avoidable acts of terrorism; Politicians goose-stepping on a red carpet of blood at political rallies and official ceremonies. We are confronted with a government that has utter contempt for its intellectuals and revels in the systematic decimation of its youth. We live in country that does not realize that children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. We have a government that has made the universities a target of its animosity and other train of ills. But let me pluck the fruit of my story.

On October 13, 2025, the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) commenced a two-weeks warning strike after all attempts to persuade the Federal Government to heed to the Union’s eight (8) demands failed.

The very day the strike action was declared, Nigeria’s Education Minister embarked on series of unconscionable falsehoods, first by stating that the Federal Government had no agreement whatsoever with ASUU and later by announcing that all the demands of ASUU had been met by the Government and there was no need for the strike action. Next moment, the Education Minister invoked the rule of ‘No Work, No Pay’ and directed all Vice Chancellors to open Registers for academic staff of Universities to sign as an indication that they were not on strike. As usual, careful observers and analysts were horrified by such shameful revisionism, dictatorship, denial of truth and unpatriotic divisiveness.

It was during this state of affairs that the Federal Government’s Negotiating Team and some well-meaning Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria waded into the crisis. The Negotiators showed initial commitment. They held series of meetings with ASUU in the month of October. It was the very first time, in a long while, we must concede, that the FGN had shown some level of concern for the demands of ASUU. So, hopes were raised. Most importantly, the Negotiators pleaded that ASUU should suspend the two-weeks warning strike to make room for more profitable negotiation.

It was therefore in the spirit of Patriotism, Goodwill and Love of Nigerian children that ASUU suspended the warning strike on October 22, 2025. But we must concede that ASUU suspended the warning strike with a caveat namely: if the FGN fails to honor its own part of the bargain in one month’s time, ASUU shall resume the suspended warning strike without any further notice. As at the time of writing this piece, the one- month ultimatum ASUU gave to the FGN is only seven days away and there seems to be nothing, nothing, at all except motion without movement. Or better still another attempt to flog a dead horse.

It is important to note that there are basically only eight core demands by ASUU namely: (1) Conclusion of the re-negotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement (2) Release of withheld three and half months salaries (3) Sustainable funding of public universities (4) Revitalization of public universities (5) Cessation of the victimization of ASUU members in LASU, Kogi State University and FUTO (6) Payment of outstanding 25-35 % salary arrears (7) Payment of promotion arrears (8) Release of withheld third party deductions.

So, what has happened since then? Apparently, there is mischief, deceit and a huge contradiction at work here. We have a Minister of Education who will say one thing in the morning only to say the opposite in the evening. For example, the Education Minister announced recently that 2.3 Billion Naira has been released by the FGN to take care of promotion and other arrears of University teachers.

The same Education Minister was to declare later that the FGN has satisfied all the demands of ASUU. Hours later, the same Minister announced that he is at the Negotiating table with ASUU. All of these antics smack of hypocrisy, deceit and outright bunkum. The FGN has satisfied all the demands of ASUU and the same FGN (represented by the Education Minister) is at the table negotiating with ASUU. Is this not the height of folly? Has the Minister become a megaphone of deceit and untruths? Or he has acquired the Dog’s facility for throwing up and returning again to eat vomit? What is clear for now is that the statements and actions of the Education Minister are a maliciously mischievous and deliberate attempt to blackmail ASUU.

The general public must note this fact. Could the Education Minister be more explicit and honest when he makes public statements? Does the Education Minister know the meaning of honor at all? The 2.3 Billion Naira the Minister claimed to have released to all Federal Universities in Nigeria is grossly inadequate. But more irksome is the fact that the 2.3 Billion Naira is only a figure announced to the Press because it is yet to be received by any Nigerian University. What about ASUU’s other demands? There is the 25/35% wage increase which was to take effect from January 2023 to December 2024. We are in the month of November 2025 and nothing has been done about it. What about the 2009 renegotiated agreement which is at the heart of the crisis? The 2009 Agreement will surely take care of the salaries of University teachers. The last time the salaries of University teachers were reviewed was in the year 2009, sixteen clear years ago. Shameful! For many years now the FGN has treated ASUU so monstrously and ASUU does not deserve this. Is it a crime to be a University teacher? Why is the political class bent on impoverishing University teachers?

The conclusion is that the Nigerian government has deliberately refused to fund the education sector and this accounts for the monumental rot in the system as well as the unending conflict between ASUU and the FGN.

To put it bluntly, in very recent times, the Federal Government has consistently pushed ASUU to embark on avoidable strike actions in Nigeria just to turn back and seize the salaries of ASUU members and create the impression that the union is intransigent and insensitive. I think that the time has come for parents, teachers, students and other stake holders in the education sector to hold the FGN responsible for this kind of mischief and hypocrisy which finds memorable expression in the proverbial wisdom of our folks: If you must blame the hawk for wickedness, first blame mother-hen for exposing her children to danger. In other words, should ASUU embark on another strike action in the coming days, the Federal Government should take the blame.

•Jeff Godwin Doki is a writer, public analyst, conflict manager and a Professor of Comparative Literature with the University of Jos, Nigeria.