A Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, has said industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have significantly reduced under the Renewed Hope administration, noting that the union has embarked on strike only once since 2023.
Olusegun attributed the development to what he described as deliberate government interventions in the education sector.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Tuesday, he said the lone strike was a nine-day warning strike, marking a departure from years of frequent industrial actions under previous administrations.
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities has only gone on strike once since the inception of the Renewed Hope administration about three years ago; a warning strike that lasted for nine days.
“This feat, which marks a different trajectory from the previous annual strikes, did not happen by chance; it was made possible by deliberate efforts of the government over the past three years,” he said.
Although no prolonged nationwide strike has occurred since President Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, ASUU has issued several ultimatums and embarked on brief warning actions over issues relating to funding and allowances.
Olusegun said the Federal Government had recorded a major breakthrough in resolving long-standing disputes with the union following the renegotiation of the 2009 agreements.
“With a major breakthrough for the longstanding issue now announced by the FG following the renegotiation of the 2009 agreements, we might have placed a final nail on the coffin of ASUU strikes,” he said.
He added that interventions in the tertiary education sector formed part of broader reforms under the Renewed Hope agenda, alongside what he described as the highly successful Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) programme.
According to him, key measures taken by the government include:
Removal from IPPIS: Federal tertiary institutions were exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, allowing universities to manage their own payrolls and enhance autonomy.
Expanded Negotiation Committee: All tertiary unions were unified under one negotiation committee.
Financial Interventions: ₦150 billion allocated in the 2025 budget for university revitalisation, to be released in three tranches of ₦50 billion each.
Earned Academic Allowances: ₦50 billion released for earned academic allowances.
Landmark Agreement and Salary Review: Signed on January 14, 2026.
Olusegun said further details of the administration’s interventions would be outlined to show how the government had worked to address the perennial problem of strikes in public universities.
Elijah Adeyemi
