President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has evaluated the persistent confrontation between the Federal Government and the Union of Academic Personnel Universities (ASUU), addressing the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, to ensure that all pending problems are solved once and for all.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alausa has counteracted Asuu’s claims, stating that the federal government has never signed any binding agreement with the union. He clarified that what the previous administrations had with the personnel unions were the draft agreements, which were never formally signed by the parties.
In statements to journalists shortly after receiving Miss Nafisa Abdullah Aminu, a 17 -year -old state student who recently won the world title in English skills in the Global Teeneagle finals of 2025 in London, Alausa denied reports that she had a scheduled meeting with Asuu’s leadership on Thursday.
Asuu president, Professor Chris Piwuna, also confirmed to the Nigerian tribe that the union had not extended.
“The union did not receive any formal invitation for a meeting,” he said.
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Alausa, however, explained that, contrary to the reports, the government approach was not in a direct meeting with Asuu, but in an internal session to review the union’s proposals and prepare a sustainable counteroffet.
“Today, I don’t know where the story that we were knowing Asuu was emerged. We did not plan to meet Asuu. What we did was meet next to the government, at the highest level, to carefully review their line proposals per line,” he said.
In addition, he emphasized that President Tinubu had given his team a clear mandate to solve the persistent problems of the FGG -ASUU 2009 “once and for all.”
“When the president entered, he told the Nigerians that he would put this country on a sustainability path, not only for today, but for 10 years, 30 years, even in the future. He has ordered us to solve this problem of ASUU permanently, not superficially,” said the minister.
Alausa also revealed that a seven -members technical team has been established to adjust the government’s counterpart before appearing to the renegotiation committee led by Yayale Ahmed for a greater commitment to Asuu.
According to him, the team will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and will include the Federation General Lawyer, the Permanent Secretaries of Justice and Laboration, the President of the National Wages, the Income and Salary Commission, the Executive Secretaries of the National Commission of Universities (NUC) and the Tertiary Education Fiduciary Fund (Tetfund), as well as the General Director of the Budget Office of the Budget Office. The Director of University Education will serve as secretary of the Committee.
“We want this to be constitutional and sustainable. The previous agreements with Asuu were never really signed by the Government. They were drafts, not binding agreements. This time, each clause must be processable, implementable and within the government’s ability to finance.”
He stressed that the era of making “false agreements” with the union was over. “We will not create an agreement that the government cannot implement. Nigerians must be sure that this government will keep their children at school. Asuu are good people. All our unions are good people. But we must reach an honest, sincere and sustainable agreement.”
The minister reassured President Tinubu’s commitment to end the crisis in the nation’s tertiary education system.
“This president fulfills every promise he does. He has ordered us to work day and night to keep our universities open and our children at school. That is exactly what we are doing.”
In the national protests held on campus by university professors, Alausa said that Asuu is free to protest, but emphasized that the union would not embark on strike, since the government has been in active conversations with its leadership.
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