Tension Looms In Campuses As ASUU Turns Down Tinubu’s 35% Salary Increase

The ongoing salary renegotiation between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may hit another deadlock as the union has rejected the proposed 35 per cent pay increase for university lecturers.

Reports indicate that all 89 ASUU branches across public universities voted unanimously against the offer during the union’s recent National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja.

The rejection raises fresh concerns over a possible collapse in talks between the government’s renegotiation committee and the lecturers’ union.

Confirming the development, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, said the union remains resolute on adopting the salary structure recommended by the former government renegotiation committee led by Prof. Nimi Briggs.

“The Federal Government’s recent offer was a 35 per cent pay increase. However, during our meeting to review the proposal, none of the 89 branches accepted it,” Piwuna told Daily Sun.
“All 89 branches of ASUU in Nigeria rejected the 35 per cent increase. It’s a non-starter for us. We are sticking to the benchmark set by Prof. Nimi Briggs’ committee, which should be the basis of negotiation.”

The Nimi Briggs committee, which concluded its work in 2022, proposed a revised salary structure for university lecturers — recommending a monthly pay of ₦1.2 million for professors in public universities.

That proposal was never implemented. Currently, professors in Nigeria’s public universities earn less than ₦500,000 monthly — less than half of what was suggested by the committee.

ASUU insists that implementing the Briggs report is vital to restoring the dignity of the teaching profession and curbing the mass migration of academics seeking better opportunities abroad.

In 2022, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) proposed a compromise salary of ₦800,000 for professors — a 50 per cent increase — but the Federal Government also failed to implement it.

With ASUU standing firm on the Nimi Briggs template and rejecting the government’s latest offer, observers warn that negotiations could soon reach a stalemate, potentially sparking another round of industrial action in the university system.

Union leaders have repeatedly stressed that without fair pay and improved working conditions, Nigeria’s tertiary education sector will continue to lose its brightest minds to foreign institutions.

For now, the ball is back in the Federal Government’s court as ASUU maintains that only a fair, realistic agreement can reflect the true worth of intellectual labour in the country.