In 2022, Tinubu promised to settle our claims even if with his personal money if elected

From Jude Owuamanam, Jos

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of reneging his campaign promises to settle all outstanding claims if elected into power.

Speaking at a protest rally to press home their demands to the Federal Government to o fulfill the terms of their renegotiated 2009 agreement, ASUU Chairman, University of Jos, Jurbe Joseph Molwus, said, “We recall the benevolent disposition of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu during our nationwide strike in 2022. He declared willingness and readiness to settle all our claims even if it was going to take his personal money.

“He further promised Nigerians during his campaign rallies that he will never allow strike to take place in our universities during his tenure. With these pronouncements, we were very hopeful that a president who would decisively and genuinely address our issues
holistically, has come.

“Unfortunately, we are addressing the press and doing a protest rally all over the country today because the issues have remained substantially unaddressed more than two years into his tenure of the Renewed Hope Agenda”.

“We wonder what has happened now that he is the president and not an aspirant that he was in 2022 when he made such promises. We wonder if president Bola Ahmed Tinubu is really aware that our demands have yet to be met. Please help us to reach the president and advise him to engage directly with our leaders to hear things for himself.

The union expressed regrets that despite the submission of the Ahmed Yayale report on the long demands of the union, the federal government has remained adamant to their demands.

“We have been on this with the FGN for the past eight years now but let us bring it to the current happenings. Since the submission of the Alh. Yayale Ahmed Report in February 2025, it has remained on the shelf until our meeting of 1lth August, 2025. This is clearly troubling for our members, as it indicates government’s attempt to jettison the Collective Bargaining Principle Nigeria, as a signatory to the ILO Convention

They said they might no longer be able to guarantee the industrial harmony that has been enjoyed for over two years stressing that
“It is lack of genuine engagement on the side of the FGN that is responsible for the lingering dispute. Without undermining any of the items in the list of our demands presented above, the current state of things can be portrayed into two as follows:

The union added that the stakeholders meeting to be held on August 28 will make or mar industrial peace in Nigerian universities