The over 40-year-old Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU) is to engage close to 300 new academic staff alongside the promotion of both teaching and non-teaching staff.

Two 5,000-bed capacity hostels, one for male and another for female students, are under construction, while over 10,000 new students are projected for admission in the next circle, raising total enrolment from its present 20,000 to 30,000.

The promotion of staff who had stagnated for about five years has been approved for announcement on Monday, September 1, 2025.

These were disclosed to The Guardian during a weekend chat with the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, Rt. Hon. Agwu U. Agwu, PhD, a former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, after his Council held its second regular meeting since its inauguration in March 2025.

The meeting was the 158th Regular Session of the University’s Governing Council.

Agwu explained that the meeting reviewed reports of Committees set up during their maiden session on the running of the Council and the continued progress of ABSU.

Asked why there has been industrial peace in the university compared to the unrest before Governor Alex Otti assumed office on 29 May 2023, the Pro-Chancellor said those who might have engaged in strikes no longer consider it rational, as most challenges that prompted such actions have either been resolved or are being addressed by the Visitor.
“There is no more arrears of salaries of workers in ABSU. The government has cleared the backlog of 11 months’ salary for the staff of the university.
“The Governing Council in this meeting approved the promotion of so many staff, including Professors, Readers, Senior Lecturers, and other senior non-teaching staff that stagnated for the past four or five years. By Monday, there will be smiles on the faces of many of the teaching and non-teaching staff in the University.

Promotions for the first batch of Professors and Readers were done in March during the Council’s inaugural meeting.
“The workers do not need to be told to sustain this industrial peace, because what led to past strikes is known to all parties and is being addressed holistically.
“If 90 percent of your problems have been addressed or are being handled by the Visitor, what need is there for industrial action?”

Agwu listed their past challenges to include the 11 months’ salary arrears, insecurity in and around the University, restoration of water and power, and near-dead hostels. He noted that work is ongoing on two ultramodern 10,000-bed hostels, renovation of existing hostels, new faculty buildings, and the approval of N830 million for procurement of engineering equipment.

He added that other contracts worth billions of naira, including perimeter fencing of Phase 1 of the University, are at various stages of planning and mobilization.
“Today, ABSU has been reconnected to the national grid, all because of His Excellency. The students have access to clean pipe-borne water, and renovation of two hostels is nearly completed.
“The bad spot between ABSU and Okigwe has also been massively addressed. I am sure that in the next one week or so, we will spend less than ten minutes from Okigwe to the main campus in Uturu. That spot that used to hold people for two or three hours will soon be a thing of the past.”

On the relocation of the Umuahia Campus, which houses the Faculties of Agriculture and Law, back to Uturu as directed by the Governor, Agwu reported that the process is ongoing.
“The movement is progressing. His Excellency visited the school and saw the need to put in place adequate infrastructure for the seamless transfer from Umuahia back to Uturu.
“Once the reconstruction and construction work is done, then we’ll move.
“He is a listening Governor. When we explained the challenges of moving immediately, he saw reason with the management. He visited the school and took it upon himself to ensure that by the time everything is put in place, the people here will even be eager to move back to Uturu.”