ASUU-BUK protests over withheld salaries, unfulfilled agreement

he Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Bayero University Kano (BUK) branch, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest, calling on the Federal Government to implement its renegotiated agreements and pay outstanding salaries.

Addressing journalists during the protest in Kano, the Vice-Chairman of ASUU-BUK, Comrade Yusuf Madugu, said the union was compelled to take action after the government allegedly failed to address longstanding issues despite several rounds of negotiations.

He recalled that successive committees led by Prof. Munzali Jibrin, Prof. Nimi Briggs, and most recently Malam Yayale Ahmed had renegotiated the 2009 agreement, which was concluded in December 2024, but the government had yet to act on it.

Madugu stressed that ASUU’s demands include the signing and implementation of the renegotiated agreement, payment of three and a half months’ withheld salaries following the 2022 strike, adequate funding of universities through revitalisation funds, as well as improved welfare, allowances and respect for university autonomy.

He lamented that since the Goodluck Jonathan administration approved ₦200 billion as revitalisation funds to be disbursed in six tranches, only one tranche had so far been released. According to him, these funds are critical for providing laboratories with reagents, stocking libraries with books, expanding classrooms, and creating a conducive learning environment for students.

The ASUU-BUK vice-chairman warned that the Federal Government should be held accountable for any consequences if the demands remain unmet, adding that the union would determine its next line of action after a national emergency congress.

Similarly, the President of the BUK Students Union Government, Abdullahi Usman-Baba, appealed to the government to engage ASUU in dialogue, stressing that students suffer the most whenever strikes occur because their academic calendar is disrupted.

“When strikes happen, our calendar is disrupted.

“We plead with the government to sit with ASUU and resolve these issues,” he said.