• Plans 15% education budget
• Count us out of FG-ASUU Agreement, says CONUA
• Urges govt to fast-track talks with all varsity unions

The Federal Government is set to inject an additional N30 billion over the next three years to stabilise and rehabilitate the 74 federal universities across the country.

This is in addition to their yearly budgetary allocations. The Nigerian government also plans to increase budgetary allocation to the education sector to 15 per cent, in line with the recommendation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

These measures form part of the agreement signed between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Tagged ‘Stabilisation and Restoration Fund’, the funds will be paid in three equal instalments of N10 billion yearly from 2026 to 2028 and managed by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

“It was agreed that the government shall provide N30 billion to be paid in three equal instalments of N10 billion yearly from 2026 to 2028 to be managed by NUC,” Section 4.3.3 of the agreement titled ‘Stabilisation and restoration fund’ reads.

Experts say the fund, if transparently managed and judiciously deployed, could help to address long-standing infrastructural decay, improve teaching and learning facilities, and enhance research capacity in federal universities.

They, however, stressed that sustained funding, accountability, and effective monitoring by relevant stakeholders would be crucial to ensuring that the intervention would deliver measurable improvements rather than short-term relief.

On sources of funding for education, the deal recommended that the government, through affirmative political will, increase allocation to the sector by ‘progressive increase of 2.5 per cent yearly to 15 per cent’, allocate 50 per cent of the total capital budget of education to universities, as well as maintain the extant policy of non-payment of undergraduate tuition fees.

Despite UNESCO’s recommendation that countries devote 15 to 20 per cent of their yearly public spending to education, successive Nigerian administrations have consistently failed to meet this target.

The Guardian reports that federal spending on education between 1999 and 2026 has fluctuated between a low of 1.69 per cent in 2011 and a peak of 13 per cent in 2008.

Although the Nigerian government earmarked N3.52 trillion to the sector in the N58.47 trillion 2026 budget currently before the National Assembly, the Initiator, Creative Change Centre, Omole Ibukun, maintains that the allocation is inadequate to tackle the sector’s long-standing challenges.

He lamented that the sum accounts for just 6.02 per cent of the total budget and falls short of international standards, stressing that it is insufficient to deliver the urgent transformation required across the education system.

MEANWHILE, the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has distanced itself from the agreement, calling on the Nigerian government to fast-track talks with all university unions.

The union confirmed that discussions were continuing with other recognised unions, including CONUA, as part of a broader, sector-wide engagement aimed at improving conditions of service, institutional stability and the overall quality of education in the country’s universities.

In an exclusive chat with The Guardian, CONUA National President, Dr ‘Niyi Sunmonu, dismissed suggestions that it would be absorbed into another academic union, insisting that it would remain independent despite comments and threats made by ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, during a recent appearance on Arise Television.

Sunmonu reaffirmed the Union’s legal status, noting that it was duly recognised by law, with its registration validated by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), as well as by provisions and conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

He acknowledged the conclusion of the renegotiation process between the Federal Government and ASUU, describing it as an outcome of the long-standing 2009 agreement that had remained unresolved for several years.