• NASU demands urgent minimum wage review over rising costs

After 17 years of protracted negotiations and unresolved disputes, the Federal Government has unveiled renegotiated agreements with academic and non-academic staff unions in tertiary institutions, in a move aimed at improving workers’ welfare, ending recurring industrial actions and ensuring uninterrupted academic calendars.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, who announced the agreements yesterday in Abuja, said the government had also paid the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) and Consolidated Non-Teaching Tools Allowance (CONTA) to eligible personnel in tertiary institutions, with both allowances taking effect from January 2026.

Alausa said the agreements marked a significant departure from decades of delayed and unfulfilled commitments that had eroded trust between the government and university workers, triggered repeated strikes and disrupted academic calendars across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

He said the agreements were designed to restore confidence in the negotiation process and support President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring that four-year degree programmes were completed within four years.

Alausa, however, stressed that the government’s credibility would depend on its ability to implement the agreements faithfully, assuring the unions that the Federal Government would honour its commitments.

Meanwhile, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has urged the Federal Government to review the N70,000 national minimum wage urgently.

The union warned that rising food prices, transportation costs, housing expenses and electricity tariffs have eroded workers’ purchasing power.

The union said the current minimum wage had become grossly inadequate to sustain Nigerian workers and their families amid mounting economic pressures, describing it as a “slave wage” that could no longer guarantee basic survival and dignity.

NASU President, Dr Makolo Hassan, made the demand in his address during the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja yesterday.

Hassan said the government must immediately review the minimum wage in line with prevailing economic realities, insisting that workers deserve a living wage that provides decent living conditions and protects their earnings against inflation He also called for institutionalised periodic wage reviews and cost-of-living adjustments to prevent inflation from continually eroding workers’ incomes.