Plans by the Federal Government to release N50 billion earned allowance to federal universities’ workers may disrupt academic activities in the ivory towers.

Speaking on behalf of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has urged the Federal Ministry of Education to withdraw the letter that conveyed the about-be-released fund.

A communique issued at the end of its 58th regular National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and was signed by the President of NAAT, Ibeji Nwokoma, called for a meeting of all university-based unions that includes Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the education ministry to draw up the modalities for sharing the money or risk fresh industrial unrest.

It said: “The NEC-in-Session further demands that before the N50 Billion is released, a meeting of the union’s leadership and the Minister of Education be convened to draw up modalities for fair and equitable distribution. Anything contrary to the above, the union may not guarantee industrial peace on our campuses.”

The meeting also called for the immediate withdrawal of a letter written to the ASUU President on the fund to douse the tension across campuses.

NAAT alleged that it intercepted a letter purportedly written to ASUU President titled, ‘Outcome of the meeting of the Minister of Education with the Technical Committee on the Non-regular Earned Allowances’ and dated 4th April 2025 informing the union that the N50 billion for the payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) of university staff should be released for payment in the next one week.

It also said that the N150 billion revitalisation funds of NEEDS Assessment is still being discussed with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and that the Chairman of the re-negotiation committee of the 2009 Agreement, Dr Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, has submitted the committee’s report which is being reviewed.

According to the letter, it is understood that the ministry will announce its official position upon completion of the review.

NAAT noted that selectively writing to ASUU on issues that affect the four unions reeks of preferential treatment that can cause disaffection in the federal universities.

“NEC-in-Session seriously frowned at this selective and discriminatory action of the Federal Government through FME and viewed it as a threat to industrial harmony being enjoyed in our campuses,” it said.

The union revealed that earlier a meeting of the Implementation Monitoring Committee where the leadership of all the four university-based unions were present with the Minister of Education took place on Thursday, 23rd January 2025 where the attention of the Minister was drawn to a statement he made that the N50 billion contained in the 2025 budget proposal was meant for payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).

The communique explained: “This misinformation was immediately corrected during the meeting by the President of NAAT, and supported by other leaders present that the money was meant for payment of Earned Allowances (EA) & EAA and not EAA only as stated by the Minister. It may interest you to note that the Minister apologised for the misrepresentation of facts as contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by NAAT and the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 17th of August 2022 and promised to correct it.”

On the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, NAAT expressed worry about the process.

It said: “As far as NAAT is concerned, only the inaugural meeting with the Committee was held. One will wonder what re-negotiation documents the committee submitted to the Ministry.”

The union urged Ahmed to reconvene the FGN/ NAAT re-negotiation meeting for a timely conclusion of the exercise.

It added: “The NEC-in-session was also worried about the non-inclusivity of the mainstreaming of the Earned Allowances due to our members in the 2009 FGN/NAAT Agreement and therefore, demands for a convening of the Technical Committee meeting to mainstream the allowances as appropriate.”