Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Owerri Zone, have expressed concern over the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement the 2025 FG/ASUU agreement, describing the delay as unacceptable and capable of causing instability within the nation’s university system.
The union called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene in issues relating to salaries, pensions, and staff welfare in order to prevent growing tensions that could threaten the current industrial peace in public universities.
The appeal was made on Tuesday by the ASUU Owerri Zone Coordinator, Dennis Aribodor, during a press briefing held at the ASUU Secretariat of Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
Aribodor, alongside other union members, criticised what he described as the inconsistent and distorted implementation of the agreement across various universities. He also urged stakeholders including traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents, students, the Nigeria Labour Congress, civil society organisations, and the media to pressure both federal and state governments into fully implementing the agreement.
According to Aribodor, the union fears that the goodwill created following the unveiling of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement on January 14, 2026, may disappear if the government continues to delay its full implementation. He blamed the situation on the failure to establish the Implementation Monitoring Committee, which was expected to oversee the agreement and prevent administrative bottlenecks.
He further alleged that federal authorities have been implementing the agreement in a disjointed manner, while many state governments have failed to adopt its provisions. He accused some university administrators of selectively paying certain allowances instead of fully integrating them into the Consolidated Academic Staff Salary Structure.
Aribodor also lamented that despite state university governing councils participating in the negotiation and signing process, several state governors have failed to implement the agreement in their institutions. He noted that while some universities in Northern and Western Nigeria have begun implementation, no state university in the South-East has done so.
The union strongly condemned what it described as partial or total non-implementation of the salary components of the agreement by some vice-chancellors. It insisted that both federal and state governments must respect the terms of the agreement to maintain lasting industrial harmony in Nigerian universities.
ASUU further warned that it would continue to push for the full implementation of the agreement to ensure its members benefit from the outcomes of the eight-year negotiation process which lasted from 2017 to 2025.
