The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a strong protest against the process of selecting vice-chancellors in Nigerian institutions, pointing to the ongoing situation at Alvan Ikoku University of Education, Owerri, Imo State, as particularly troubling. The union said that higher institutions are increasingly being treated as “commodities for politicians and contractors,” rather than upholding the principles of merit and scholarship that should define academic leadership. In a statement signed by National President Christopher Piwuna, ASUU specifically condemned efforts to reinstate the Acting Vice-Chancellor at Alvan Ikoku University, noting that the individual’s recent promotions to reader and professor were marked by “clear evidence” of contradictions a pattern the union alleged is also emerging within federal universities.
ASUU also voiced concern over the deteriorating welfare of academics across public universities. Lecturers, the union said, were teaching on empty stomachs and forced to conduct research in facilities lacking essential electronic and physical resources journals, books, chemicals, and reagents. Many now travel to collaborate with communities and agencies in dilapidated vehicles, while juggling personal financial pressures such as utility bills, rent, school fees, and family upkeep. ASUU warned that despite such conditions, academics continue to be blamed by some for producing unemployable graduates and failing to develop innovative solutions for the country’s problems an accusation it called deeply demoralising to its members.
The union also criticized the failure of successive governments to honor collective bargaining agreements, particularly the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement with ASUU. It pointed to a draft agreement submitted to the government by the Yayale Ahmed-led committee in December 2024 a full eight months ago that remains unacted upon. ASUU stressed that every past dispute since 2012 stemmed from government’s neglect of key provisions such as funding, conditions of service, university autonomy, academic freedom, and necessary reforms of governing laws overseeing the NUC and JAMB.
ASUU called on federal and state governments to immediately address outstanding labor issues in the university system to prevent another debilitating strike. The union warned that no number of Memos of Understanding or Action (MoUs/MoAs) from years such as 2013, 2017, 2019, or 2020 can replace a legally binding Collective Bargaining Agreement that ensures academic staff welfare and creates an environment conducive to scholarly productivity. “The time to act is now,” ASUU concluded, urging stakeholders to prioritize solutions over bureaucratic delay.
