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The branches of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State University of Education (LASUED) and Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) have accused the Lagos State Government of failing to implement the 2025 Federal Government–ASUU Agreement, eight months after its agreed commencement date, while also lamenting that their members were earning less than the secondary school principals in the state.
This assertion was made by the coordinator, ASUU-LASU, Babalola Oluwaseun, at a joint press conference yesterday at the ASUU Secretariat, Lagos State University, Ojo. The unions, which were also led by the chairman, ASUU-LASUED, Akinola Victor and chairman, ASUU-LASUSTECH, said the government’s continued delay in implementing the agreement had heightened concerns over the welfare of academic staff, the future of public higher education and respect for collective bargaining agreements.
Among their demands, the unions called on the Lagos State Government to immediately implement the 2025 Federal Government–ASUU Agreement with effect from January 1, 2026; implement outstanding welfare provisions, including enhanced retirement benefits; suspend the new tax deductions pending salary implementation; review Earned Academic Allowance payments; reinstate the dismissed ASUU-LASU members; recall the ASUU-LASUED chairman; release the LASU visitation panel report and white paper and direct governing councils and university managements to respect collective bargaining agreements and workers’ rights.
In their words: “As we speak, we are poorly paid and I can factually tell you Lagos State secondary school principals earn better salaries than we do. There was an agreement to be reached after prolonged negotiations between ASUU and the Federal Government and it was expected to take effect from January 1, 2026, and had already begun to be implemented in several states. Lagos State had yet to take concrete steps to domesticate and implement its provisions across its three state-owned universities.
“Our repeated efforts to engage the state government through official correspondence and dialogue have yielded little or no response. ASUU-LASUSTECH wrote to the government on several occasions between March and July 2026 seeking implementation of the agreement, while ASUU-LASU and ASUU-LASUED also made similar representations without success.
“The delay sends a negative signal about the government’s commitment to higher education and undermines confidence in negotiated agreements between government and organised labour. We expressed concern over what we described as disparities in the remuneration of academic staff. As we speak, some senior professors in Lagos State-owned universities currently earn less than principals in the state’s secondary school system.
“This situation raises questions about the state’s commitment to building globally competitive universities, insisting that improved welfare for academics is essential to quality teaching, research and innovation. We call on the Lagos State Government to implement enhanced retirement benefits for professors as contained in the 2025 agreement. Many senior academics who had spent decades in teaching and research should not retire under uncertain conditions.
“We are unhappy over the introduction of increased tax deductions for academic staff despite the non-implementation of the new salary structure. The move is unfair and we urged the government to suspend the deductions until the agreed salary adjustments are fully implemented.”
Meanwhile, on the issue of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), ASUU-LASU alleged that its members had received significantly lower payments over the past decade compared with colleagues in federal and many other state-owned universities. The union called on the government to review the implementation of the allowance to address what it described as a longstanding disparity.
The unions also renewed calls for the reinstatement of five dismissed ASUU-LASU leaders, whose termination they described as unjust and linked to legitimate trade union activities. They argued that the matter continues to undermine confidence in labour relations within the university.
Similarly, ASUU demanded the unconditional recall of the ASUU-LASUED chairman, Dr. Akinola Victor, alleging that the termination of his appointment was connected to his union activities.
