Strike: Every request by ASUU has been addressed – FG

The federal government has stated that there is no need for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on strike as it has addressed the union’s requests.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, pleaded with ASUU members to return to work.

According to Alausa, ASUU is the body he has had the most meetings with since he assumed his current position.

“We have addressed every single request by ASUU; there is no need for this strike, and we are pleading with them to go back to school.

“We need to keep our children in school. If there is any group of people that I have met with the most since I assumed this position, it is ASUU.

“The arrears of their earned academic allowance, we’ve paid ₦50 billion. The President swiftly approved that payment months ago. Why they had earned academic arrears was that they didn’t want the arrears to be mainstreamed as part of their salary, which was the best way, but they now came back and we talked to them.

“The earned academic arrears have now been mainstreamed as their salaries. There will never be arrears again.

“We’ve also addressed issues about the postgraduate supervision allowances, which are to be paid by the institutions, and I’ve been told that these are being paid.

“There are issues about the needs assessment money, which was not released. If you remember, this assessment was negotiated by them almost 20 years ago, but this government met those liabilities,” he said.

“The President approved ₦150 billion of his assessment money in this 2026 budget; ₦50 billion of that has been released. The President promised us he would release this in tranches of ₦50 billion over three payments; the first one has been released, it is sitting in the needs assessment account now.

“For us not to dispose of money, it’s ASUU that is holding those disbursements. The promotion arrears, we told them this will be paid with the 2026 budget, which will be appropriated as part of the 2026 appropriation budget, but what was causing the arrears, we’ve resolved that,” Alausa added.