The Federal Government has officially commenced the enforcement of the ‘no work, no pay’ policy on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who embarked on two-weeks warning strike beginning from yesterday.
This was contained in a letter, to all the Vice-Chancellors of the Federal Universities by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.
The Minister, in the letter, made reference to extant provisions of the labour laws of the federation, reiterating the position of the Federal Government to enforce the ‘no work, no pay’ policy against any employee (ASUU members) who fails to discharge his or her official duties during the period of strike action.
“Accordingly, all Vice-Chancellors of federal universities are hereby directed to ensure strict application of this provision, which requires immediate actions as follows: conduct a roll call and physical headcount of all academic staff in your institution, submit a comprehensive report clearly indicating staff who are present and performing their official duties and those absent or participating in the strike and ensure that salary payment for the period of work stoppage is withheld from those who fail to perform their duties.
“For the avoidance of doubt, academic staff who are members of the Congress of
University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental
Academics (NAMDA), who are not participating in the strike action, are exempted from this directive and shall not be subjected to any form of salary withholding.”
The Minister asked the vice chancellors to treat this matter with utmost urgency and a deep sense of responsibility in national interest, stressing that the National Universities Commission (NUC) would monitor compliance with the directive and submit a consolidated report to the Ministry within seven days of receipt of this circular.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, at a press conference, on Sunday, had said that all branches of ASUU had been directed to withdraw their services with effect from midnight on Monday, October 13, adding that the warning strike shall be total and comprehensive as agreed at the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Union.
He said: “It is regrettable to note that nothing significant has happened to change the position of NEC since we last briefed the press on the listed eight items as issues in dispute. The issues include conclusion of the renegotiated 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, release of the withheld three and a half months salaries, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of universities and cessation of the victimisation of lecturers in LASU, KSU, now Prince Abubakar Audu University, and FUTO.
“Others are payment of the outstanding 25-35 percent salary arrears, payment of promotion arrears for over four years and release of withheld third-party deductions, including cooperative contributions and union check-off dues, among others. In a letter dated September 30, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, on behalf of the government, appealed that the union should withdraw the notice of the 14-day ultimatum
“He acknowledged that ASUU had been patient with the government and shown understanding with respect to the renegotiation process, which has inadvertently lingered over time (eight years). Although he promised to transmit the government’s position on the draft agreement to the union with the return of Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the chairman of the renegotiating team to the country, but what ASUU got at ’an emergency meeting of the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement renegotiation committee’ on Friday, October 10, was nothing to write home about.
“To say the least, the documents were neither here nor there. While the Permanent Secretary acknowledged in his letter that Dr. Ahmed’s committee had recorded commendable progress, culminating in the transmission of the draft report of the 2009 renegotiated Nimi Briggs Agreement to the Ministry, the presentation to the ASUU Team at the emergency meeting was a total departure from the letters and spirit of the review of the Draft 2022 agreement submitted by Alhaji Yayale Ahmed to the Ministry.
“In line with our union’s principles, ASUU will soon submit its position pointing out areas of deliberate distortion, inconsistency and flagrant disregard for extant laws, policies and practices to the Federal Government. Suffice to state, however, that the hurriedly packaged documents were provocative and incapable of dousing industrial tensions, which had reached an irreversible pitch across our campuses. “The Federal Government raised our members’ hopes in resolving the lingering issues before we held the August 2025 NEC meeting at the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS), by asking for three weeks of grace to sort out things. It was a hard-sell, but the leadership managed to convince NEC to exercise a little more patience.
“The pre-UDUS NEC hope was dashed without a blink. The government’s agents have again been pleading for more time since the expiry of the three-week promise with nothing concrete for ASUU leadership to take to their members.
“Why will a government that has been talking to the union for more than one year through its negotiating team now resort to emergency to address a negotiation process that has lingered for over eight years?
“Is it not a demonstration of bad faith that a government would rubbish wholesale a draft agreement packaged between its representatives and those of ASUU? And now that matters have come to a head, it is still appealing and appealing to no end. This resort to appeals has only confirmed our members’ suspicion of the government’s strategy all along.
“History will not forgive intellectuals who watch helplessly while the working and living conditions of Nigerian academics further deteriorate, and our universities are further incapacitated to respond to the challenges of the 21st century knowledge economy. The matter goes beyond tokenism. What is needed is the fundamental transformation of our university system. This is all ASUU is asking for.
“We, therefore, plead for the understanding of our dear students and their parents. We equally invite other patriotic Nigerians, including workers, media practitioners and civil society activists, to join ASUU in this transformational mission.”
