The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, has said the Federal and state governments must take responsibility for resolving the lingering crisis in Nigeria’s public university system.
Piwuna stated this on Wednesday while speaking on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.
His comments came days after ASUU warned that it could reactivate its suspended nationwide strike over the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, outstanding salary arrears and other welfare concerns affecting university lecturers.
The ASUU president said the December 2025 agreement was expected to usher in stability in the university system and shift attention from recurring industrial disputes to issues affecting the quality of education.
He expressed disappointment that several provisions of the agreement had yet to be fully implemented.
“It’s really painful to have conversation on issues like this. Our expectation, when we signed an agreement in December 2025, was that we are going at this time to talk about progress that we have made, the stability in the system and concern ourselves with issues that affect Nigerians,” Piwuna said.
According to him, the agreement contained provisions on funding for public universities, improved salaries and research support, among other measures.
“The agreement, when we signed it, had provision for funding for public universities. It had provisions for improved salary, and it had provision for research council, amongst others,” he said.
Piwuna explained that the crisis had been compounded by the shared responsibility for university administration and funding between the Federal Government and state governments.
He said while some state governments had implemented aspects of the agreement, others had yet to fulfil their commitments, resulting in varying conditions for lecturers across public universities.
The ASUU president specifically mentioned the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, as an example of a governor who, according to him, had implemented the agreement.
“Only Governor Alex Oti of the South Eastern part has implemented it,” he said.
Piwuna also said the Federal Government had outstanding obligations under the agreement, adding that the union had engaged relevant government officials over the matter.
“We have engaged them; the Minister of Education at federal level, we engaged Senator Larry Tejuosho, the chairman of the implementation committee monitoring of the Federal Government agreement. We have reminded them to do the needful,” he stated.
The ASUU president further linked the tension in the university system to outstanding salary payments, including three-and-a-half months of salaries which the union says remain unpaid from the seven-and-a-half months withheld during the previous administration.
He said some universities had also been forced to engage their respective authorities over salary payments and the implementation of agreed conditions of service.
“As we stand now, funding is not properly being done according to what was agreed to. Individual universities have to embark on strike before salaries are being paid. Some universities are cut off from the new salary structure,” Piwuna said.
He urged both federal and state governments to honour their commitments, warning that failure to resolve the outstanding issues could further increase tension in the university system.
Piwuna, however, said ASUU remained committed to dialogue with the government, stressing that agreements reached after negotiations must be translated into concrete action.
He also called for increased investment in education, saying adequate funding was necessary to strengthen research, teaching and the overall development of Nigerian universities.
“So while negotiating with the government, we told the government to reduce the budget to 15 per cent and they agreed. Although it may be difficult, but it can be done incrementally,” he said.
