The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, on Tuesday rejected the Federal Government’s proposed salary increment for university lecturers.

Zonal Coordinator Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen made the union’s position known while briefing journalists in Benin, describing the proposed increase as “a mere drop in the ocean” that would not reverse the brain drain currently affecting Nigeria’s university system.

He lamented the Federal Government’s “blatant unwillingness to quickly and holistically resolve all outstanding issues,” calling for the urgent renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement and a genuine resolution of other related matters.

“The salary and conditions of service components remain sore points requiring radical action to prevent a looming crisis in the sector,” Igbafen said.

“We have rejected the proposed increment because it is incapable of addressing the systemic challenges that have persisted for over 15 years.”

He highlighted that university lecturers have remained on the 2009 salary structure, when the naira-dollar exchange rate was N120, even as salaries in other sectors have been revised multiple times.

“It is scandalous that a professor in Nigeria today earns less than $400 per month,” he said, calling the situation “inhuman” and a driver of industrial unrest and brain drain.

Igbafen warned that the back-and-forth approach of the Federal Government in negotiations must stop immediately.

“Enough is enough. A half-hearted approach to dialogue with ASUU will no longer be tolerated,” he said.

Last week, ASUU Owerri Zone, comprising Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam; Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO); Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU); and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, announced that it will have no alternative but to embark on full-scale industrial action from November 21, 2025, if the Federal Government fails to address their longstanding demands.

It decried what it termed ‘selective implementation’ of its agreement with the Federal Government.

The announcement was contained in a release signed by the zonal coordinator, Prof Dennis Aribodor, and issued to journalists during a briefing at the ASUU–UNIZIK Conference Hall in Awka yesterday.

According to him, the ASUU Owerri Zone has observed with consternation the government’s continuous failure to prioritise education, perceiving it as a commercial good that must be self-sustaining, rather than a social good that guarantees peace, progress, and national development.

ASUU president, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Taraba State University, Jalingo, expressed worries over the FG’s alleged back-and-forth approach to negotiations with the union’s officials.

ASUU sternly warned that continued indecision on the side of the government could have “serious consequences on the education sector”.
The union further warned that the Federal Government might face another nationwide industrial action if it fails to honour its agreements.