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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has renewed its demand for the payment of withheld salaries and the implementation of outstanding provisions of its December 2025 agreement with the Nigerian Government.
ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, made the call on Friday while briefing journalists at the union’s secretariat at the University of Jos, Plateau State.
Piwuna said the government needed to urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting academic staff welfare to restore lecturers’ confidence and promote stability in public universities.
He said full implementation of the ASUU Agreement reached in December 2025 would allow lecturers to focus on teaching, research and community service while helping to restore industrial harmony in the university system.
The ASUU president also linked the challenges facing universities to Nigeria’s wider economic difficulties, calling for changes in government policies ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He urged political parties and candidates to prioritise job creation, poverty reduction, education, production and economic development rather than policies that only provide temporary relief.
Piwuna criticised what he described as poverty-alleviation approaches influenced by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, arguing that Nigeria needed more inclusive policies designed around its own economic realities.
He called on federal and state governments to invest more in agriculture, industry, social protection and other productive sectors capable of creating jobs and reducing dependence.
The union also urged governments to limit unnecessary borrowing and explore sustainable ways of financing development projects that directly benefit citizens.
Piwuna called for stronger action against corruption and financial leakages, including the recovery of stolen public funds and greater accountability in government spending.
He also advocated a more progressive tax system in which wealthier Nigerians contribute more towards financing development.
On education, Piwuna called for a comprehensive review of the sector to make it more responsive to Nigeria’s social, economic, cultural and technological needs.
He said the country should develop an education system suited to its own challenges rather than continue to replicate models designed for other societies.
The ASUU president called for increased funding for research, technical education, agriculture, innovation and skills development, saying these areas were crucial to creating employment and building the workforce needed for national development.
He also urged the federal and state governments to address infrastructure and funding challenges in public universities, stressing that sustainable investment was necessary to improve the quality of higher education.
Piwuna maintained that lecturers could not effectively perform their duties where agreed conditions of service remained unresolved.
He urged Nigerians to scrutinise the policies and programmes of political parties and candidates ahead of the 2027 elections, particularly their plans for education, employment, poverty reduction, production and social protection.
ASUU said Nigeria needed policies that would expand productive capacity and reduce dependence rather than measures that merely manage the effects of poverty.
Piwuna said the union remained committed to dialogue with the government and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the university system and the wider society.
