Lecturers across Nigerian universities have taken to the streets to protest against what they describe as years of neglect by the Federal Government, voicing strong opposition to its recently introduced loan scheme while demanding the payment of withheld salaries and allowances.
The demonstrators under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were armed with placards and chanted solidarity songs to express their displeasure over the Federal Government’s loan scheme and the delay in payment of wages.
During the protest on Tuesday, the lecturers warned that industrial action could once again cripple the nation’s higher institutions if their grievances remain ignored.
Aside from the loan and unpaid wages, the lecturers disclosed that the protest was not only about wages but also an avenue to reject the government’s new Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan initiative, which the lecturers described as a deliberate attempt to shift attention from unpaid entitlements.
According to union leaders, offering loans to academics who are still being owed salaries is not just misplaced but insulting to their dignity and profession.
On Tuesday, the demonstrations spread across university campuses, including Jos, Lagos, Benin, Gusau, and Dutse, where lecturers reaffirmed their rejection of the loan scheme and pressed for urgent government action.
In Jos, ASUU branch chairman, Joseph Molwus, told reporters that the loan was “a burden disguised as a solution.”
He added, “Our members don’t need loans. What we demand is payment of what is legitimately ours. Asking us to borrow while withholding our salaries and allowances is unjust.”
At the University of Lagos, protesters called for improved welfare, better funding for universities, and the completion of the long-delayed renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement.
Similar calls were echoed in the University of Benin and Federal University Gusau, where lecturers warned that a fresh strike might become inevitable.
ASUU chairperson at Gusau, Abdulrahman Adamu, lamented that universities have been left to depend almost solely on TETFUND for development.
He revealed that the Federal Government still owes academic staff three and a half months’ salaries from the 2020 strike, alongside promotion arrears and over two years of unpaid wage awards.
In Dutse, Jigawa State, the branch chairman of ASUU, Isma’il Ahmad, accused the government of reneging on the 2009 agreement.
He stressed that the current salary structure can no longer sustain lecturers, warning that the situation had reached a breaking point.
Nationwide, ASUU reiterated that instead of pushing loan schemes, the Federal Government must urgently clear outstanding obligations, including withheld salaries, earned allowances, promotion arrears, revitalisation funds, and unremitted deductions.
The union also criticised the government for refusing to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, warning that the delay has deepened frustration among lecturers and threatens the fragile industrial peace in Nigerian universities.
“We have waited too long. If the government continues to ignore these issues, universities may once again be forced into prolonged closure,” one protesting lecturer declared.
ASUU reminded President Bola Tinubu of his campaign promise that strikes would not recur under his administration, urging him to intervene in the matter before patience runs out.
While the union reiterated its openness to dialogue, it stressed that only urgent and sincere action from the government can prevent another major disruption in Nigeria’s public university system.
