The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are set to sign the long-awaited renegotiated 2009 agreement on Wednesday, January 14, in what many observers describe as a potential turning point in Nigeria’s protracted university labour crisis.
Official invitations have been dispatched to vice-chancellors of all federal universities, directing them to attend the signing ceremony scheduled for the Federal Ministry of Education. The invitation, issued by the Director of University Education, Rakiya Iliyasu, described the event as a landmark moment in efforts to stabilise the nation’s public university system.
“I am directed to invite you to the official ceremony for the signing of the agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities,” the notice read in part.
Ms Iliyasu said the signing represents a “critical milestone” toward industrial harmony and improved teaching and learning conditions in Nigerian universities, while also reaffirming the government’s commitment to the sustainable development of the education sector.
A decade-long dispute
The agreement at the centre of the ceremony was originally signed in 2009 and was due for renegotiation in 2012. However, prolonged delays spanning more than a decade triggered repeated industrial actions by ASUU, often paralysing academic activities and severely disrupting the academic calendar in public universities.
Optimism around a breakthrough grew after both parties reached a fresh understanding on December 23, the first concrete consensus since formal renegotiation talks began in 2017.
ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, confirmed the development, stating that the union and the government negotiating team had resolved several long-standing issues. He added that further engagements would be held with the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, to secure firm political commitment to the implementation of the pact.
Key provisions
Under the terms of the agreement, academic staff are to receive a 40 per cent salary increase. The deal also provides for the establishment of a National Research Council with statutory funding of at least one per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, a move aimed at strengthening research output and innovation in the university system.
In a significant welfare provision, professors will now earn a pension equivalent to their annual salary upon retirement at the age of 70. The agreement further commits the government to enhanced university autonomy, improved academic freedom, and increased funding for research facilities, libraries, laboratories, equipment, and staff development.
Long road to consensus
The latest deal was brokered by the sixth renegotiation committee constituted by the government since 2017. The final panel, known as the Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee, was chaired by Yayale Ahmed, the Pro-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University.
The committee was inaugurated shortly after ASUU embarked on a two-week warning strike, protesting what it described as the government’s habitual failure to conclude and implement negotiated agreements.
Previous efforts had stalled repeatedly. Before Ahmed’s committee, renegotiation drafts were produced by panels led by the late Nimi Briggs in 2022 and Munzali Jibrin in 2021, none of which were signed. Earlier still, a committee headed by Wale Babalakin oversaw talks between 2017 and 2020 before his resignation.
Analysts say the planned signing, if followed by faithful implementation, could mark the end of a cycle of distrust that has undermined Nigeria’s higher education sector for years.
However, they caution that ASUU’s confidence will ultimately depend on how swiftly and transparently the government fulfils the agreement’s provisions.