Muhammad Lawal Ibrahim, PhD.
ABU, Zaria lawalabusalma@gmail.com
For over a decade, Nigeria’s educational system has been held hostage by a cycle of neglect, betrayal, and insincerity in the dealings between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). What is most shameful is not just the recurrent nature of the crisis, but the deliberate manner in which government allows issues to fester until lecturers are forced to down tools before any serious attention is given. This pattern is not only destructive; it is a testament to a government that thrives on crisis management rather than proactive problem solving.
The 2009 Agreement: A Monument of Betrayal
Since 2009, ASUU has been calling for the implementation of a renegotiated agreement that addresses funding for universities, improved conditions of service, and institutional reforms. Sixteen years later, successive governments have reduced the agreement to a political football, ignoring it when convenient and making empty promises under the threat of strike. This is not an issue of lack of funds because the same government continues to approve outrageous salaries, allowances, and luxuries for political office holders. Rather, it is an issue of misplaced priorities and deliberate neglect.
Shameless Punishment of Lecturers
The Nigerian government has gone further to weaponize hunger and frustration against university lecturers. From withholding months of salaries, to denying promotion arrears, to stagnating remuneration for over a decade, the message is clear: university workers are to be treated as second-class citizens in their own country. More than 80% of earned allowances have been forfeited under the guise of government “reforms,” yet the same government now insults the intelligence of lecturers by proposing loans. Loans to cover what? To replace the rightful earnings deliberately denied to them? Nothing exposes the government’s insincerity more than this contradiction.
Misplaced Priorities and Wickedness
The Nigerian state has demonstrated beyond doubt that it is not poverty but wickedness and nonchalance that drives its actions. Billions are squandered on political appointees, luxury SUVs, foreign trips, and endless allowances. Yet, the men and women who train the nation’s future leaders are told to tighten their belts and endure hardship. When retirees who spent their lives in service of the nation’s universities are left to survive on a paltry ₦150,000 monthly pension, it is no longer incompetence it is cruelty.
The Endless Expansion of Universities
Adding insult to injury, governments at both federal and state levels keep announcing new universities when existing ones remain underfunded, under-equipped, and understaffed. This unchecked proliferation only dilutes quality, stretches resources, and compounds the very problems ASUU has been fighting to resolve. A serious government would consolidate, strengthen, and adequately fund the institutions it already has, not embark on populist expansion to score cheap political points.
What is the Motive?
One cannot but ask: what exactly is the government’s motive in all this? Why deliberately punish university workers, undermine their welfare, and cripple institutions that are supposed to be the backbone of national development? The answer lies in a political class that benefits from the decay of public education. By systematically weakening universities, they push desperate parents and students into the arms of private institutions many owned by politicians themselves. It is a system of sabotage that enriches the few while impoverishing the many.
A Call for Urgent Action
Nigeria cannot develop if its universities remain in perpetual crisis. The government must end this culture of deceit and neglect by:
- Immediately implementing the renegotiated 2009 Agreement.
- Paying all outstanding arrears, allowances, and withheld salaries.
- Restoring promotions and revising remuneration to reflect current economic realities.
- Halting the reckless expansion of universities and instead investing in quality and sustainability.
Anything less is a continued betrayal of Nigerian students, lecturers, and the future of the nation itself.
