The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has denied receiving the N50bn revitalisation fund the Federal Government recently claimed to have released, insisting that none of its demands has been met ahead of its National Executive Council meeting scheduled for November 8 and 9, 2025.
ASUU made this known in a statement on Wednesday signed by Prof. Jurbe Molwus, who recalled that the union suspended its two-week warning strike in good faith following assurances from senior government officials that concrete proposals would soon be presented.
“As ASUU mobilises for its National Executive Council meeting scheduled to hold on the 8th and 9th of November, 2025, we expect that some of the outstanding entitlements such as 3.5 months withheld salaries, 25/35% wage award arrears, promotion arrears, unpaid salaries of some members, etc., would have been paid to university workers by now. But all we get are press releases by the Honourable Minister of Education. What we need are credit alerts, not misleading statements,” the statement read.
Molwus said the Federal Government’s recent announcement of a N50bn disbursement had not translated into actual payment to universities.
“It is sad to further note that even the N50bn revitalisation fund the Federal Government claimed to have released some weeks ago is yet to reach the universities. We do not know why the Minister of Education is still keeping it,” he said.
The ASUU leader also faulted comments by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who claimed that N2.3bn had been released to settle salary and promotion arrears.
“Again, the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Maruf Alausa, was quoted to have said in a recent release that ‘The FG has released N2.3bn to clear salary and promotion arrears in all federal universities.’
“But, as we speak right now, university workers have yet to receive any such alerts. So, the minister’s claim of clearing backlog may be in the fiction of his imagination. He also claimed to have strengthened academic staff welfare, and we ask how?”
Molwus described the amount mentioned by the minister as grossly inadequate.
“However, the big question for the minister to answer is: can a meagre N2.3bn settle the backlog of promotion and salary arrears of all federal university workers? Absolutely not. The truth is that the amount of N2.3bn is like a drop in the ocean because it can hardly take care of three big universities in Nigeria. The amount is grossly inadequate and almost embarrassing if not insulting,” he said.
He urged the minister to clarify what portion of the workers’ entitlements the N2.3bn was meant to cover and for which institutions.
ASUU further called on Nigerians to hold the Federal Government accountable, warning that the union might resume its strike if its demands were not met by November 21, 2025, which marks the end of its four-week ultimatum.
“We hereby call on the press, students, parents, and the general public to call on the Federal Government to do the needful so that ASUU is not blamed if and when it resumes its suspended strike in the next two weeks. For clarity, the four weeks given to the Federal Government will lapse on the 21st of November, 2025,” Molwus stated.
He added, “We hereby state for the benefit of the doubt that the strike was only suspended as a mark of respect and demonstration of goodwill in collective bargaining. So, we expect the Federal Government to reciprocate by satisfactorily addressing our demands
