The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has rescinded his previous assertion that no binding agreement existed between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, acknowledging the validity of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement. In a statement released on Friday, the minister clarified that the 2009 pact remains the sole valid and binding document to date. This clarification followed his address to reporters on Thursday in Abuja, wherein he dismissed ASUU’s position as being based on a draft, insisting that no agreement had ever been signed, a stance the union immediately challenged. According to the minister, both the 2009 and 2011 documents frequently cited by ASUU “were never signed, but only proposals presented during negotiations.”
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President Bola Tinubu’s administration has reaffirmed its commitment to resolving the protracted issues with the university lecturers’ union. The Ministry of Education, via its Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, has validated that the 2009 agreement remains the last formally ratified agreement. Additionally, efforts to reassess the agreement began in 2017, when the then Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, constituted a renegotiation committee.
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According to reports, the process yielded the draft Nimi Briggs Agreement in May 2021; however, the government emphasized that it was never formally executed. A statement titled “Clarification on Minister’s Statement Regarding FGN-ASUU Agreements” noted that the Honourable Minister’s assertion that there had been ‘no new signed agreement’ with ASUU specifically referred to the 2021 draft Nimi Briggs document, which remains unexecuted. The Ministry reaffirmed that the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement is the last formally signed agreement. The 2021 draft serves merely as the latest framework for discussions. The Federal Government remains committed to resolving the 16-year stalemate with ASUU in a sustainable and constitutionally backed manner, ensuring universities remain open for teaching and research. The ministry urged the public and stakeholders to disregard misinterpretations of the minister’s earlier remarks, stressing that keeping universities open for teaching and research is the administration’s priority.
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