The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have unveiled a renegotiated agreement aimed at resolving long-standing disputes in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector and restoring stability to the academic calendar.
The 2025 agreement is the outcome of a renegotiation process that began in 2017 to review the 2009 Federal Government–ASUU pact, which was due for revision in 2012. Several committees constituted under previous administrations and chaired by Wale Babalakin, Munzali Jibrin and Nimi Briggs failed to produce a final agreement.
The breakthrough was achieved under the current administration following the inauguration of a new renegotiation committee led by Yayale Ahmed in October 2024.
About 14 months later, both parties reached an agreement focused on improved conditions of service, sustainable funding, university autonomy, academic freedom and broader reforms to reverse sectoral decay, curb brain drain and reposition Nigerian universities for national development.
Speaking at the unveiling in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the agreement reflected the commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to uninterrupted academic calendars and improved welfare for university lecturers.
According to him, the pact goes beyond a formal document, representing “renewed trust, restored confidence, and a decisive turning point in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.”
Alausa credited President Tinubu with personally driving the process, noting that, “for the first time in the history of our country, a sitting President took full ownership of this long-standing challenge confronting our tertiary education system and accorded it the leadership attention it truly deserved.”
He said decades of unresolved remuneration and welfare issues had fuelled recurring industrial actions that disrupted academic calendars and undermined students’ futures, but stressed that the current administration chose “dialogue over discord, reform over delay, and resolution over rhetoric.”
Outlining key provisions of the agreement, the minister announced a review of the remuneration package for academic staff in federal tertiary institutions, effective January 1, 2026. He disclosed that the emoluments of university academics would be increased by 40 per cent to boost morale, enhance service delivery and curb brain drain.
Under the new structure, salaries will comprise the Consolidated University Academic Staff Salary and a Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance.
Alausa explained that the 40 per cent review would be reflected through the academic tools allowance, covering journal publications, conference participation, internet access, learned society membership and book allowances.
He added that nine earned academic allowances had been restructured to promote transparency and fairness, with payments now strictly tied to duties performed, including postgraduate supervision, fieldwork, clinical responsibilities, examinations and leadership roles.
A major highlight of the agreement is the introduction of a Professorial Cadre Allowance for senior academics. “For the first time, the Federal Government has approved a new Professorial Cadre Allowance,” Alausa said, stressing that it applies strictly to full-time Professors and Readers.
Under the new framework, Professors will receive ₦1.74 million per annum, equivalent to ₦140,000 monthly, while Readers will earn ₦840,000 per annum, or ₦70,000 monthly. He described the intervention as “not cosmetic but structural, practical and transformative.”
“With the total support, direction and guidance of Mr President, we confronted what many described as an intractable problem and resolved it decisively, now and into the future,” the minister said.
He added that the agreement ushered in “a new era of stability, dignity and excellence” for Nigerian universities, restoring confidence among lecturers and predictability to academic calendars.
Alausa reaffirmed the government’s commitment to faithful implementation of the agreement under the Renewed Hope Agenda and commended members of both the government and ASUU renegotiating teams for resolving what he described as “a two-decade-old quagmire.”
“History will remember today not merely as an unveiling ceremony, but as the day Nigeria chose dialogue, transparency, fiscal realism and strong presidential commitment as the pathway to resolving long-standing governance challenges and achieving sustained progress,” he said.
