Nigeria’s public university system faces the prospect of another nationwide shutdown after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) warned it could no longer tolerate government neglect and broken promises.
At a press conference in Asaba on Monday, the union’s Benin Zone—which covers 10 universities across Edo, Delta, and Ondo states—accused the federal government of deliberately pushing lecturers back towards strike action.
“We want to tell Nigerians not to hold ASUU responsible but to hold the Federal Government accountable for the paralysis that will befall Nigerian universities in a few days to come,” said the zonal coordinator, Prof. Monday Igbafen.
The union said the government had failed to sign a renegotiated version of its long-standing 2009 agreement with ASUU, which would review staff conditions of service. It also cited years of unpaid promotion arrears, withheld salaries, poor funding of universities, and lack of commitment to resolving governance issues in the sector.
“Since the suspension of our last strike in October 2022, the Federal Government has yet to make good its promise to actualise the review of our dismal conditions of service,” Igbafen said, describing lecturers’ salaries as “abysmally poor” and unchanged for 16 years.
ASUU also accused senior officials of abandoning Nigeria’s public education system because their own children are schooled abroad, leaving domestic institutions to decay.
The lecturers insisted that industrial action was not their preferred option but said all peaceful avenues of negotiation had been exhausted.
The union appealed to students, parents, civil society organisations and the Nigerian Labour Congress to pressure the government into honouring agreements and preventing another disruption to higher education.
“This is a critical moment in the history of university education in the country, as it is currently on the precipice,” Igbafen warned.
The Benin Zone comprises the University of Benin, Ambrose Alli University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Delta State University, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, University of Delta, Dennis Osadebay University, and Southern Delta University.
