Nigerian Government ASUU Agreement Finally Ends Years of Strikes: See What Was Agreed
Nigerian Government ASUU Agreement Finally Ends Years of Strikes. Nigeria’s long-running industrial dispute in the tertiary education sector has reached a decisive turning point, following the successful conclusion of a comprehensive renegotiation of the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The agreement was finalized on December 23, 2025, after years of protracted negotiations, repeated strike actions, and extensive deliberations between ASUU’s National Executive Council and the government’s negotiating team led by Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed.
The newly concluded pact seeks to confront the structural challenges that have persistently undermined Nigeria’s university system, particularly in the areas of funding, staff welfare, and institutional autonomy. Central to the agreement is a 40 percent salary increase for academic staff across all public universities, alongside a restructured pension framework designed to enhance post-service security for senior academics.
Under the revised pension provisions, professors will now retire at the age of 70 and receive pensions equivalent to their full terminal annual salaries, an issue ASUU has long described as critical to safeguarding the dignity and well-being of career academics. The agreement further stipulates that academic salaries will be automatically adjusted in line with any general review of public sector wages. In addition, universities are required to make annual payments of earned academic allowances, set at 12 percent of their approved academic staff wage bills.
Beyond remuneration, the agreement introduces a far-reaching reform of the funding architecture for public universities. The Federal Government has committed to establishing a National Research Council (NRC), to be funded with no less than one percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. The council will finance research activities, library development, laboratory upgrades, and staff capacity-building, with the aim of revitalizing scholarship and innovation within the university system.
The agreement also strengthens institutional autonomy by affirming universities’ full administrative independence. It mandates that the appointment of Vice-Chancellors must be strictly merit-based, removing the influence of host-community indigeneship or political pressure. In a significant policy shift, the controversial pyramidal academic staffing structure has been scrapped, with future promotions to be determined solely by research productivity and performance rather than the availability of vacancies.
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Implementation of the revised agreement is scheduled to commence on January 1, 2026, with a compulsory review every three years to ensure its continued relevance and economic sustainability. To protect participants in the industrial actions that preceded the settlement, the agreement includes a non-victimization clause guaranteeing that no union member will face punitive measures.
As the country approaches the new year, the accord is widely regarded as a landmark achievement that could restore stability to Nigeria’s academic calendar, strengthen the global standing of its universities, and usher in a new era of lasting industrial harmony in the education sector.
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