Lecturers of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) branch, on Tuesday joined their counterparts across the country in a peaceful protest, demanding the Federal Government’s full implementation of past agreements with the union.
The lecturers, who came out in large numbers, marched within the school premises with placards while chanting solidarity songs.
The action followed a press briefing on Monday at the ASUU Secretariat, UI, where the Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Biodun Olaniran, outlined the union’s grievances.
The Ibadan Zone of ASUU, comprising the University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (Ogbomoso), Osun State University (Osogbo), Kwara State University (Malete), and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education (Oyo), expressed dismay over what it described as the Federal Government’s “piecemeal and frustrating” handling of unresolved issues in Nigerian universities.
Olaniran criticized the persistent underfunding of education, noting that while UNESCO recommends allocating 15–26% of national budgets to the sector, Nigeria only earmarked about 7% in the 2025 budget.
“This underfunding has severely affected the quality of education, limiting access, resources, and the ability of our institutions to compete globally. Notably, Nigeria lags behind Kenya and Ghana, which allocate 20% and 13% respectively,” he said.
He listed the union’s outstanding demands, including: re-negotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement; sustainable funding and revitalization of universities; respect for university autonomy; an end to the victimization of members in LASU, KSU, and FUTO; payment of outstanding salary arrears and promotion arrears; and the mainstreaming of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).
Olaniran lamented that although a draft agreement was reached in 2021 with the Nimi Briggs-led renegotiation committee, the Federal Government has refused to sign it. He also drew attention to the deteriorating state of facilities in public universities.
“Alarmingly, no Nigerian public university ranks among the top 1,000 globally. The physical decay of lecture rooms and the deplorable state of student accommodations further underscore the crisis,” he noted.
The ASUU leader further accused the government of undermining university autonomy by dissolving Governing Councils prematurely and reconstituting them with political allies and supporters.
On funding matters, he recalled that although ₦50 billion was released earlier in the year, contrary to the agreement that the fund was meant for academic staff, it was shared among all university workers, leaving lecturers underpaid by ₦10 billion. He added that the mainstreaming of EAA, originally slated to commence in 2022, has still not been implemented in most universities.
“The union’s demands are clear: there must be a deliberate and purposeful commitment to adequate funding in order to rescue our institutions from impending collapse,” Olaniran declared.
