The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised a dire warning over what it describes as a coordinated assault on Nigeria’s public university system, accusing the Federal Government, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of playing roles in a bid to dismantle public higher education in the country.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the ASUU Heroes Day celebration, the union’s National President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, declared that the interests of public universities were being sabotaged, pointing specifically to the failure to renegotiate a landmark 2009 agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government. Despite numerous Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Action (MoAs) over the years, Osodeke lamented that the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement has yet to be concluded. This inaction, he noted, has left public universities struggling against chronic underfunding and bureaucratic inertia.
Osodeke singled out the World Bank and IMF for their “relentless determination” to weaken Nigeria’s public education system, further compounding the challenges facing the sector. “Comrades, like in the past, this year’s celebration of our heroes also takes place as we continue the struggle to rescue Nigeria’s public universities from the suffocating clutches of the World Bank and the IMF, whose determination to destroy and bury our public university system has not abated,” he said.
The ASUU President also criticised the government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which he argued continues to stifle university autonomy. Although the Federal Executive Council had announced intentions to remove public universities from IPPIS oversight, the enforcement of the payroll system remains in place. This, Osodeke argued, only serves to further complicate an already strained academic environment.
Further grievances include the withholding of ASUU members’ salaries and outstanding payments, which Osodeke described as an act of “punishment” against union members for advocating for a more sustainable and dignified public education sector. ASUU continues to support its members in the struggle, he said, citing cases at Kogi State University, Lagos State University, and Ebonyi State University, among others.
