Temitope Ajayi, an aide to President Bola Tinubu, has stated that the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been deemed unimplementable by every government.

In a statement, Ajayi advised the union to negotiate with the government for a more realistic and implementable agreement, rather than holding on to what was agreed upon in 2009 as the ultimate standard.

Ajayi, who serves as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said this amid threats by ASUU to down tools and shut universities nationwide.

He said, "Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is still talking about the 2009 agreement it signed with the Federal Government in 2025 as the elixir our university system needs to become globally competitive.

"One thing is now very obvious about this 2009 agreement: either ASUU is overstating the value of the agreement, or the Federal Government walked itself into a blind alley. Something is certainly very wrong with this agreement. Every government since 2009 finds it unimplementable.

"Instead of holding up a 16-year-old agreement as the gold standard, the Academic Staff Union of Universities should negotiate, in good faith, with the government, a more realistic and implementable agreement.

"It is a fact that ASUU has a penchant for hastily drawing comparisons between the condition of service of academics in Nigeria and that of other countries without giving the public the full story.

"In countries like the UK, for example, academic positions are mostly on a contract basis. This means academic staff do not have permanent jobs like they have in Nigeria. This was one of the grounds for the disruptive industrial action by UK academic staff between 2018-2023.

"A 2022 report from the Universities and Colleges Union in the UK indicates that a larger proportion of the academic staff, as high as 59%, are on fixed-term contract employment.

"I believe the government should significantly improve the conditions of service of academic staff, channel more funds into academic research, and expand physical infrastructure on campus - hostels, classrooms, laboratories, etc. Getting the required funding to make all of these happen to attract and retain the best faculty staff will also mean students must pay the adequate tuition fees.

"We may not have a top-tier university education system if what students pay for an academic session is far less than what most nursery schools charge for a term."


ASA