Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU Port Harcourt Zone has called for the full implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement and resolve other outstanding issues for a lasting industrial harmony in Nigerian Universities.
The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU of the zone, Comrade Uzoma Chima made this known while briefing Newsmen on the outcome of the Union’s review of the Implementation of the signed agreement and other outstanding issues held Wednesday 21 May in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Comrade Chima who maintained that the Union will stop at nothing to ensure that all its members fully benefit from the modest gains of the eight-year long negotiation urged President Bola Tinubu
and state Governors to intervene in the matter.
The ASUU zonal coordinator noted that Federal Government agents have so far implemented the agreement in a distorted and uncoordinated manner which he blamed the situation to the non-inauguration of the Implementation Monitoring Committee expected to guide its strategic actualization.
“The momentum generated with the unveiling of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement on 14 January, 2026 is fast waning and may soon be lost if government’s promise to fully implement the Agreement is not kept. Over four months after the much publicised unveiling of the Agreement, the Federal Government is yet to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) expected to shield the Agreement from bureaucratic bottlenecks and guide its strategic actualisation.
“Administrators of Federal universities are picking and choosing what to pay among the Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and Professorial Allowances (PA) whereas all of these should have been mainstreamed with the Consolidated Academic Staff Salary Scale (CONUASS) as monthly salary packages for professors and other academic staff as applicable.
In fact, this partial and fragmented payment of the approved allowances could not go beyond two or three months in some Federal Universities as the Administrators alleged that the directive on implementation from the Minister of Education came without financial backing” he said.
Comrade Chima while commending few Governors who have embraced and fully implemented the salary component of the agreement in their universities said some others have turned their back on the agreement which is not healthy for the system.
“Our Union strongly condemns the partial or non-implementation of the salary component of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement by Vice-Chancellors and call on Federal and State governments to respect the letters and spirit of the document for lasting industrial harmony on our campuses.
“ASUU calls on the Federal Government to be properly guided by the well-thought-out objectives set out for it in the new FGN-ASUU Agreement. We shall resist any attempt to hijack and derail the research and development agenda by external agents and their local collaborators.
Also see: Fubara Withdraws From APC Gubernatorial Race, Cites Peace, Unity As Reasons
We are at a loss as to why the Minister preferred to denominate the funding in dollars and wonder if Government is now going to take another loan from the Bretton-woods institutes to fund research in Nigeria when the source of funding the proposed National Research Council was clearly spelt out in the 2025 Agreement.
“We equally wish to use this opportunity to draw the attention of the public to other outstanding issues impinging on the welfare of our members. Before the conclusion of the December 2025 Agreement, members of the Government’s Renegotiating Team led by Mallam Yayale Ahmed made frantic efforts to sort out all outstanding entitlements of lecturers with their principals.
This, they said, was meant to chart a new path to industrial harmony in Nigerian universities and make the new Agreement start off on a clean slate. Unfortunately, it appears that government did not accept that good idea and proposal.
“Many of the issues were unresolved and still remain unresolved to-date. Among these are arrears of the 25-35% salary award, arrears of promotion, remittances of third-party deductions (check-off dues, cooperative society deductions, pension contributions, etc.), salary shortfalls arising from Integrated Payroll and Personnel-Information System (IPPIS) application, and the withheld three-and-half months’ salaries occasioned by the 2022 industrial action of ASUU ” the zonal coordinator stated.
Comrade Chima however condemned the inhumane treatment meted on their retired colleagues who had sacrificed so much to the growth of the education sector and urged the government to address their plights.
“Once more, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Visitor to Federal Universities and the visitors of affected state universities, to immediately address the vexatious delay in addressing the salary and other staff welfare issues including the pension of our colleagues to douse tensions that threaten the fragile industrial peace on our campuses.
“Further delay in addressing these lingering issues amounts to tasking the patience of ASUU members” Comrade Chima added
