Relief as FG, ASUU Set to Sign Fresh Agreement on Improving University System January 14

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will sign a fresh agreement on Wednesday, January 14, to strengthen industrial harmony and improve conditions in Nigeria’s university system.

This was contained in an official invitation issued by the Federal Ministry of Education through the University Education Department and addressed to all Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of federal universities.

The agreement is expected to cover key areas, including a 40 per cent salary increase for academic staff and significantly improved pension benefits.

Under the new pension structure, professors will retire at age 70 with pensions equal to their full annual salaries, a long-standing union demand.

The deal also introduces a revamped university funding model with dedicated allocations for research, libraries, laboratories, equipment, and staff development.

The circular, dated January 5, 2025, described the event as a significant milestone in the ongoing engagement between the federal government and ASUU.

According to the ministry, the agreement showed the government’s commitment to promoting industrial peace in the university system, enhancing teaching and learning conditions, and ensuring the sustainable development of tertiary education in Nigeria.

It further aligned with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises reforms and stability in critical sectors, including education.

According to the invitation letter by the ministry, “the event signifies a critical milestone in promoting industrial harmony, enhancing teaching and learning conditions in Nigerian universities, and reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to the sustainable development of the education sector, in furtherance of the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”

In December 2025, the federal government and ASUU concluded the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, ending a long-running industrial relations crisis after more than 16 years of stalled talks.

The agreement was reached on December 23, 2025, following intensive engagement between the parties, and is expected to take effect on January 1, 2026, with a review scheduled after three years.

The agreement also proposes establishing a National Research Council to fund research, with a minimum allocation of 1% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The renegotiation of the agreement, first signed in 2009 and due for renegotiation in 2012, has stalled for over a decade and has resulted in multiple months of industrial action by academic staff, disrupting the academic calendar in Nigerian public universities.

The six government-appointed committees eventually reached an agreement, the first in 2017 and the last in October.

The last committee, known as the Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee, was led by the Pro-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Yayale Ahmed.

The committee was set up shortly after ASUU embarked on a two-week warning strike to protest the government’s failure to sign or implement the agreement.

The union accused the government of routinely constituting renegotiation committees only to fail to sign or implement the committee’s draft.

Before this new committee, Ahmed headed the government-initiated renegotiation committee established in October 2024 to renegotiate the 2009 agreement with ASUU.

In August, Education Minister Tunji Alausa inaugurated a committee chaired by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Abel Enitan, to review the draft agreement between ASUU and the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation committee, submitted in February.

Before Ahmed, the late Nimi Briggs, an emeritus professor, led the renegotiation committee in 2022 and produced a draft that the government never signed or implemented.

Before Briggs, it was Munzali Jibrin’s 2021 committee, which also produced a draft that was never signed.

Before them was Wale Babalakin, who headed the committee from 2017 to 2020 when he resigned.