By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
The battle for the soul of Nigeria\u2019s ivory towers reached a boiling point on Friday as the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund met behind closed doors with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a tense session that laid bare decades of neglect, broken promises, and mounting anger within the nation\u2019s university system.<\/p>\n
The high-stakes meeting, chaired by Senator Mohammed Dandutse Muntari (Katsina South), brought ASUU face-to-face with lawmakers in a bid to avert a full-blown academic shutdown as the union\u2019s two-week warning strike bites deeper.<\/p>\n
In a blistering presentation, ASUU President, Professor Chris Piwuna, lambasted the Federal Government\u2019s failure to honour agreements and fund tertiary education adequately, declaring that Nigerian lecturers are now the poorest paid in Africa.<\/p>\n
A professor in South Africa earns \u20a66 million monthly, in Ghana \u20a61.5 million but in Nigeria, a full professor earns less than \u20a6500,000,\u201d he said bitterly. \u201cOur salaries can\u2019t attract serious scholars from anywhere. Even colleagues in Uganda and Zimbabwe earn far more. This is a national disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Union warned that the country\u2019s best brains are fleeing to foreign universities due to poor pay and unbearable working conditions, leaving behind a hollow system struggling to sustain itself.<\/p>\n
Professor Piwuna accused the government of \u201cdeliberate neglect\u201d of the 2009 Agreement, which has been due for renegotiation since 2012.<\/p>\n
He revealed that a new draft agreement completed in December 2024 by the Alabi Aira-led Committee was ignored until the union commenced strike action.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve been patient, but patience has its limits,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government only remembers us when we down tools. That\u2019s not how nations grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Union also demanded the payment of three-and-a-half months\u2019 withheld salaries, unremitted pension deductions, and the release of \u20a650 billion revitalization funds currently \u201ctrapped\u201d at the Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate appropriated that money for universities, not for colleges or polytechnics,\u201d ASUU stated. \u201cThe Ministry is playing politics with education. We want the Senate to compel them to release it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASUU further raised alarm over what it described as an attempt by the FCT Minister to seize portions of the University of Abuja\u2019s land, originally allocated for academic and agricultural use.<\/p>\n
That land is crucial for research, expansion, and innovation,\u201d the union warned. \u201cIf the Minister succeeds, he would be choking the future of education in the capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reacting, Senator Olubiyi Fadeyi condemned the deterioration in Nigerian universities and backed the lecturers\u2019 outcry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all products of Nigerian universities, and what we see today is heartbreaking,\u201d he said. \u201cASUU\u2019s demands are not unreasonable. What\u2019s unacceptable is government\u2019s habit of signing agreements and abandoning them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Committee Chair Senator Muntari assured the union that the Senate would not fold its arms while universities crumbled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot teach when your stomach is empty,\u201d he admitted. \u201cWe will engage the Executive and ensure these issues are addressed once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASUU declared that the industrial action could be called off within 24 hours if the government demonstrated genuine commitment to resolving the crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want students at home or parents losing sleep,\u201d the union said. \u201cGive us reason to believe, and we\u2019ll end this strike immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the lecturers insisted that without real reforms not political promises peace in Nigerian universities would remain an illusion.<\/p>\n
In his closing remarks, Senator Muntari pledged that the committee would submit a comprehensive report to the Senate President, urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to personally intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not let this matter rest,\u201d he vowed. \u201cEducation is the backbone of national development and the Senate will not stand by while our universities collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s ivory towers are once again on the brink. ASUU has issued an ultimatum fund education now, honour agreements, and pay what\u2019s owed or risk plunging the nation\u2019s universities into a deeper, avoidable crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The battle for the soul of Nigeria\u2019s ivory towers reached a boiling point on Friday as the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund met behind closed doors with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a tense session that laid bare decades of neglect, broken promises, and mounting anger within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2704,334,5037,1349,4231,2193],"class_list":["post-8007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-academic","tag-peace","tag-personally-intervene","tag-political","tag-promises","tag-shutdown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8008,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions\/8008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}