Unuevbo TV
ASUU Benin Zone Threatens to Shut Public Universities Nationwide, Accuses FG of Failing to Implement 2025 Agreement
ASUU Benin Zone Chairman, Prof. Monday Igbafen (centre), flanked by executives from nine universities, during the press briefing in Benin City on Thursday.
The Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has drawn a line in the sand. On Thursday, May 21, flanked by executives from nine public universities under its jurisdiction, the zone's Chairman, Prof. Monday Igbafen, told journalists in Benin City that the union is prepared to shut down academic activities across the country unless the Federal Government moves swiftly to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2025.
The grievances are specific and, according to ASUU, unforgivable. The union accuses the government of what it calls "distorted and selective" implementation of critical allowances — Earned Academic Allowances and Professorial Allowances were paid, but outside the agreed structure, leaving thousands of lecturers short‑changed. Unpaid salary arrears continue to accumulate. Third‑party deductions, including cooperative contributions and union check‑off dues, have been deducted from salaries but never remitted to the institutions they are meant for. And the Implementation Monitoring Committee — the body designed to track and ensure compliance — has never been inaugurated.
"We have exhausted every avenue of dialogue," Igbafen said. "What we are left with is a government that signs agreements it has no intention of honouring. We will not continue to watch our members' livelihoods eroded while the government plays games with implementation. If this is not resolved, the paralysis of public university education will be total." The threat carries weight. ASUU's Benin Zone covers universities across the South‑South and parts of the South‑East, and a strike called from this zone would quickly cascade into a national action.
The timing is especially delicate. With the 2027 election season already heating up and the government eager to project an image of stability, a nationwide university shutdown would be a political wound the administration cannot afford. For now, the government has not formally responded to the Benin Zone's ultimatum. But the clock is ticking, and ASUU's message is unambiguous: honour the agreement, or watch the lecture halls go quiet.
Stay tuned to Unuevbo TV for more on the ASUU‑Federal Government negotiations and the policies shaping Nigeria's education sector.
📺 Watch Nigerian politics 24/7 on our Politics Channel.
© 2026 Unuevbo TV – All rights reserved. Republication only with permission.