On December 23, 2025, the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) reportedly concluded the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement—after sixteen long years of deadlock, deception, delays, and dashed hopes.
Sixteen years.
That is four democratic election cycles. Four administrations came and went. Four governments campaigned, promised, ruled, and exited—while Nigeria’s public universities were left to decay.What was renegotiated in 2009 should never have survived into 2025 unresolved.
This was not merely an industrial dispute; it was a slow, deliberate suffocation of the soul of a nation. Yet, today, we cautiously say: this is good news.
A Crisis Born of Elite Appetite
Poverty is Nigeria’s most visible affliction—but it is not accidental. It is induced poverty, engineered by elite greed and sustained by policy capture. Nigeria is too blessed to be poor. But our elites have an inordinate appetite—to own what no individual should control, to privatise what must remain public, to weaken institutions so personal empires may thrive.
Public universities became casualties of this appetite. Just as: Luxury bus and haulage cartels sponsored the corruption that killed rail transport; Private medical practice hollowed out public hospitals; So too did the expansion of private universities—without institutional discipline—quietly benefit from the deliberate starvation of public universities. A weakened public system is good business for private interests.
ASUU and the Refusal to Bury the Dead Alive
By the late 2000s, Nigeria’s university system was already gasping for breath. Laboratories were empty, libraries obsolete, lecturers impoverished, and research reduced to theory without tools.
Without ASUU’s stubborn resistance—its refusal to surrender, its insistence on renegotiation—the burial of Nigeria’s public university system would have been sealed long ago.
Let history record this truth clearly: ASUU stood its ground when surrender would have been easier. The cost was enormous: Endless strikes; Demonisation of lecturers; Weaponisation of hunger; Broken agreements; Court cases; No-work-no-pay policies; Governments negotiating in bad faith; Yet ASUU endured. Sixteen Years of Broken Talks and Twists
From 2009 onward, renegotiations became ritualistic deception.
Each administration reopened talks only to: Suspend committees, Change negotiation teams, Plead “empty treasury,” Or reduce agreements to unsigned communiqués. Panels were set up, reports submitted, promises made—and abandoned.
What should have been concluded within one administration became a sixteen-year relay of irresponsibility. That this crisis survived four governments is an indictment of Nigeria’s political elite.
What This Agreement Represents
The reported agreement—if faithfully implemented—touches the very pillars of university survival: 40% salary increase for academic staff; Improved pension structure, including retirement at 70 with full salary-equivalent pensions for professors; Dedicated funding for research, libraries, laboratories, equipment, and staff development; A National Research Council, with funding not less than 1% of GDP; Strengthened university autonomy and academic freedom; Elected academic leadership, with deans and provosts drawn strictly from professors; No victimisation of ASUU members for their years of struggle
This is not luxury. This is institutional oxygen. The research funding component alone restores Nigeria’s right to dream—and to become what it dreams.
Why This Moment Matters
If properly implemented, this agreement can mark the rebirth of Nigerian intellectual cities: Ife, Ibadan, Enugu, Zaria, Lagos, Maiduguri, Jos. Once upon a time, these cities were defined by their universities. Knowledge gave them identity, dignity, and global relevance.
May that glory return. May truly ivory towers rise again—ivory not in arrogance, but in excellence, integrity, and purpose.
A Final Warning and a Prayer
This agreement must not become another document betrayed by time. Nigeria cannot afford a repeat of past failures.
Implementation—not applause—will determine whether this moment becomes history or another footnote of disappointment.
May this be an enduring foundation for the revival of our universities and University Teaching Hospitals.
May Nigeria finally learn that you do not develop a nation by killing its mind.
Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.
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