•Lecturers insist on improved funding for universities

From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

The Senate has moved to intervene in the ongoing two-week warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), with its Committees on Labour, Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND holding talks with the union’s leadership on Friday in Abuja.

The joint committee, chaired by Senator Muntari Dandutse (Katsina South), met with ASUU executives behind closed doors at the National Assembly and has scheduled a follow-up meeting with the Minister of Education, Mr Tunji Alausa, and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusuf Ribadu, for Tuesday next week.

Speaking after the session, Dandutse said the Senate was committed to ensuring a resolution to the impasse before the warning strike escalates into a full-blown industrial action.

“After meeting with the national leadership of ASUU on a way out of the current strike and the looming indefinite one, we have resolved to convene a very important meeting with relevant government agencies, particularly the Minister of Education and the Executive Secretary of NUC, on Tuesday or Wednesday next week,” he said.

He added that the committee also resolved to engage the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over alleged encroachment on land belonging to the University of Abuja.

Earlier, ASUU President, Professor Christopher Piwuna, told the lawmakers that sustainable funding and investment in public universities remained the only viable path to ending recurring strikes and improving the global ranking of Nigerian institutions.

Piwuna explained that the two-week warning strike was rooted in longstanding issues dating back to 2011 and lamented that the Federal Government had failed to honour several agreements reached with the union.

“We engaged the Federal Government for eight years without tangible results. The Yayale Ahmed Committee report, submitted in December 2024, was ignored until this industrial action began,” he said.

On the issue of funding, Piwuna disclosed that although the National Assembly approved ₦150 billion for public universities, only ₦50 billion has so far been released, and even that amount, he alleged, remains stuck at the Ministry of Education.