The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has denied receiving the ₦50 billion revitalisation fund the Federal Government claimed to have released, stressing that none of its key demands has been fulfilled ahead of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for November 8 and 9, 2025.

In a statement signed on Wednesday by Prof. Jurbe Molwus, the union recalled that it suspended its two-week warning strike in good faith after government officials assured that concrete actions would follow.

“As ASUU prepares for its NEC meeting on November 8 and 9, we had expected that outstanding entitlements — including 3.5 months of withheld salaries, 25/35% wage award arrears, promotion arrears, and unpaid salaries of some members — would have been settled by now. Instead, all we see are press statements from the Minister of Education. What we need are credit alerts, not misleading announcements,” Molwus said.

He added that the alleged ₦50 billion revitalisation fund had yet to reach universities.
“It is disappointing to note that even the ₦50bn fund the government claimed to have released weeks ago has not been received by any university. We wonder why the Minister of Education is still holding onto it,” he stated.

Molwus also challenged the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, over his claim that ₦2.3 billion had been disbursed to clear salary and promotion arrears.

“Once again, the Minister of Education claimed that ₦2.3bn has been released to settle salary and promotion arrears across federal universities. But as we speak, no such payments have been made. This so-called clearance of backlogs exists only in the minister’s imagination. He also claimed to have improved academic staff welfare — we ask, how?” he said.

According to Molwus, the sum mentioned by the minister was grossly inadequate to address the financial issues raised by the union.

“The question the minister must answer is: can ₦2.3bn realistically clear salary and promotion arrears for all federal university workers? Absolutely not. That amount is barely enough for three major universities in Nigeria. It is grossly inadequate and, frankly, embarrassing. The minister should specify what fraction of the arrears the ₦2.3bn is meant to cover and who the beneficiaries are,” he added.

ASUU further urged Nigerians to hold the Federal Government accountable, warning that the union might resume its suspended strike if its demands remain unmet by November 21, 2025 — the end of its four-week ultimatum.

“We call on the media, students, parents, and the general public to appeal to the Federal Government to meet our demands so ASUU will not be blamed if we resume our suspended strike in two weeks. The four-week grace period given to the government ends on November 21,” the statement read.

“The suspension of our strike was a mark of respect and goodwill in the spirit of collective bargaining. We therefore expect the government to respond responsibly by meeting our demands without delay. Our members are running out of patience as they await payment of their legitimate entitlements.”

ASUU had embarked on a two-week total strike on October 12, following a 14-day ultimatum issued on September 28, over unmet demands related to staff welfare, infrastructure funding, implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, and salary arrears.

In response, the Federal Government criticised the industrial action, directing universities to enforce a “No Work, No Pay” policy and instructing vice-chancellors to conduct physical headcounts of academic staff.

Subsequently, the Senate intervened, expressing concern over the government’s inaction. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Aliyu Dandutse, announced plans to initiate fresh negotiations involving ASUU, the Ministry of Education, and the National Universities Commission to resolve the crisis.

On the University of Abuja land dispute, the Senate also said it would engage the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to achieve a peaceful resolution.