• TETFund: Stakeholders commend Tinubu, identify grey areas

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government within which to address its seven-point demands.
 
The union said the decision followed a meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC), which was held on Sunday at the University of Abuja.The National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, made this known in a copy of the strike notice he signed and made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja.
 
“At the National Executive Council meeting held at the University of Abuja on September 28, 2025, the union decried the neglect of the university system and the government’s consistent refusal to heed to its demands.
 
“Accordingly, ASUU has given the Federal Government of Nigeria an ultimatum of 14 days within which to address these issues. If at the end of the 14-day ultimatum, the Federal Government fails to address these issues, the union may have no option but to, first, embark on a two-week warning strike and, thereafter, a total and indefinite strike,” Piwuna said in the notice.
 
The ASUU President listed the seven-point demands of the union to include re-negotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement; sustainable funding of universities; revitalisation of universities; victimisation of ASUU members in Lagos State University (LASU), KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University), and Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO). 
 
Others are outstanding 25–35 per cent salary arrears; promotion arrears for over four years, as well as third-party deductions. It would be recalled that the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, had set up a committee headed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Abel Enitan, to look into a proposal for ASUU, in a bid to ensure stability across universities.  However, the committee has yet to make any decision known to the public.

MEANWHILE, stakeholders gathered in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, yesterday to assess the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) on its strengths and weaknesses.
 
They also deliberated on ways to enhance the essence of the Fund’s establishment in 2011. At the 2025 TETFund Board of Trustees Townhall meeting for North-Central, the participants, mainly actors in the education sector, including heads of tertiary institutions and state government officials, appreciated President Bola Tinubu for injecting enough vigour into the Fund’s optimal performance.
 
The Rector of Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kamoru Kadiri, agreed that the school had never enjoyed better attention and support before the creation of TETFund. 
 
He said his institution has benefited from over N4 billion in grants and support for research, infrastructural development, as well as maintenance, workshop and general capacity building businesses.