Prof Piwuna, ASUU President
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Maiduguri chapter, has strongly condemned the N150,000 retirement benefit for professors and other senior academics, describing it as insensitive and a national disgrace.
Their colleagues in the Bayelsa State-owned Niger Delta University, Amassoma, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest against the Federal Government’s newly introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme, describing it as “generational slavery.”
Speaking after a protest at the institution’s campus, the UNIMAID ASUU Chairman, Abubakar Mshelia, said the policy reflects the government’s disregard for intellectuals who have dedicated their lives to nation-building.
“Professors who have spent over four decades educating generations retire on a meagre N150,000 under the contributory pension scheme, while inflation exceeds 21 percent.
“This is not just a labour issue; it is a national disgrace. A country that treats its intellectuals with such disdain cannot expect meaningful progress,” he said.
Mshelia lamented the government’s failure to address unpaid salary arrears, which he noted range between 25 and 35 percent in wage rewards, as well as long-standing promotion arrears owed to academics in several institutions.
He also accused the Federal Government of hypocrisy for recently approving nine new private universities despite declaring a moratorium.
“ASUU demands an immediate freeze on the establishment of new universities until existing ones are adequately funded and staffed,” he said.
The chairman further faulted the proposed Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Loan Scheme, the government’s refusal to sign the renegotiated 2009 agreement, and the non-remittance of third-party deductions.
He also rejected the reported decision to rename the University of Maiduguri after former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This unilateral renaming is provocative. It violates the principle of university autonomy and undermines academic freedom, institutional integrity, and democratic governance,” Mshelia declared.
According to him, ASUU has shown restraint by prioritising dialogue, but government silence has left the union with no choice but to consider industrial action.
“If the government continues on this path, strikes will be inevitable, and the responsibility will rest squarely on its shoulders,” he warned.
In Bayelsa state, the protest followed an emergency congress of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, NDU chapter, which accused the Federal Government of neglecting long-standing agreements and failing to address the union’s demands.
The lecturers, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “FG should sign 2009 renegotiated agreement,” “Release revitalisation funds for public universities,” and “Pay 25%, 35% wage awards,” said the loan scheme was a ploy to further impoverish academics.
Chairman of ASUU-NDU, Comrade Lucky Bebeteidor Oyinkepreye, told journalists that the Federal Government was “playing with the sensibilities of lecturers” by offering loans instead of fulfilling existing agreements.
He recalled that the 2009 agreement reached with the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiation committee remained unimplemented, adding that lecturers did not need government loans since cooperative societies within ASUU chapters already serve that purpose.
“The FG does not need to give us loans. In NDU alone, we have two cooperatives that lecturers can access.
“What we want is the payment of our outstanding 25 per cent and 35 per cent wage awards, not loans that were not even budgeted for,” he said.
Oyinkepreye also accused the government of planning to divert TETFund resources into the loan scheme, warning that such a move would further weaken public universities.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to “take a second look” at the scheme, which he described as “a diversionary ploy to enslave lecturers.”
Turning to the state government, he demanded payment of 19 months’ outstanding salaries owed lecturers, insisting that wage increases and sustainable university funding were non-negotiable.
“They have already tied our children (students) with educational loans; now they want to enslave their parents with loans too. We reject it,” he added.
