…as FG convenes meeting on Thursday with varsity teachers
By Our Correspondent
In a bid to finally close the chapter on the lingering 2009 ASUU agreement, a high-stakes meeting is expected in Abuja this week where the Federal Government is expected to make a counter offer to the University teachers in a bid to translate years of stalled renegotiations into concrete, implementable commitments with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Informed sources hinted that the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, will join the Minister of Labour and representatives of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) and the Solicitor General to meet ASUU leaders in Abuja to examine how to finally implement the renegotiated 2009 FGN–ASUU agreement and related reports produced in the most recent round of negotiations.
According to officials, the meeting will be tasked with delivering a clear timetable for signature and phased implementation.
The urgency of the move comes amid warnings from ASUU branches nationwide that their patience is exhausted after a renegotiation process concluded in December 2024 and formally submitted to government in February 2025.
Union leaders insist that the draft must now be signed and implemented to avert another nationwide shutdown of public universities.
Recalled at a press conference in Abuja, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Abuja Zone, Prof. Al-Amin Abdullahi, stressed that the union had kept its part of the bargain and expected government to demonstrate seriousness by adopting the report without delay.
The 2009 agreement remains the touchstone of the dispute, signed under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, which promised comprehensive reforms to Nigeria’s public universities, including sustained revitalisation funding, institutional autonomy, a negotiated salary and conditions package for academics, and a monitoring framework for implementation.
Its partial or non-implementation across successive administrations has led to recurring strikes.
