The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is once again on a collision course with the Federal Government, threatening fresh industrial action after rejecting its inclusion in the newly launched Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF).
The union described the scheme as nothing more than a ploy to drag ASUU into guaranteeing loans it never requested and does not trust. In a communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, ASUU president, Christopher Piwuna, made it clear that what lecturers need is not loans, but the payment of their long-withheld salaries.
According to the communiqué, “NEC resolved to reject the ploy to conscript ASUU as guarantor of loans the union knows nothing about and demands that ASUU be delisted from the process. NEC also resolved to press for the release of the withheld three-and-a-half-month salaries of ASUU members instead of loans that will add little or no value to their lives.”
The union also accused the government of deliberately stalling key agreements, especially the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU pact, which has been a recurring source of conflict for over a decade. It urged the Federal Government to speed up the work of the Yayale Ahmed-led committee tasked with renegotiation, stressing that only genuine collective bargaining can restore trust.
Beyond unpaid wages, ASUU listed a string of unresolved issues—poor conditions of service, underfunding of universities, threats to autonomy and academic freedom, and outdated laws regulating bodies like the National Universities Commission and JAMB.
As a result, the NEC has directed members nationwide to brace up for simultaneous protests across university branches. These protests, ASUU said, would also feature press briefings to drive home their grievances. Dates are to be announced soon.
The move comes barely a week after the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, launched the TISSF, which offers zero-interest loans of up to ₦10 million to academic and non-academic staff of tertiary institutions. To qualify, applicants must have at least five years before retirement and belong to recognised staff unions such as ASUU, SSANU, or NASU.
Meanwhile, ASUU also disclosed that it is preparing to roll out a new accountability platform—the Tertiary Institutions Transparency and Accountability Solution (TITAS)—to replace the earlier UTAS model. The union says TITAS is already at an advanced stage and has attracted interest from many universities eager to adopt it.
For ASUU, the message is simple: pay our members, respect agreements, and properly fund universities—or risk another round of strikes.
