The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed that 84 of its members have died between May and August 2024 due to economic hardship and the government’s refusal to release unpaid salaries.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made this alarming revelation during an interview on the socio-political programme Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, aired on Channels Television.
“In the past three months, from May to August (2024), Nigerian universities lost 84 academics to death because of what our people are going through,” Osodeke stated. He attributed the deaths to the dire financial straits faced by lecturers who are still owed multiple months’ salaries under the controversial “no work, no pay” policy.
Despite the challenges faced by academics, Osodeke criticized the government for introducing policies that have worsened the situation, such as the increase in fuel and electricity prices. “People are trying to survive,” he remarked, “and you introduced fuel increase, electricity increase—everything is gone now.”
The ASUU President further advocated for increased funding for Nigerian universities and better welfare for lecturers, highlighting the low salaries paid to academics. He revealed that despite being a professor for 15 years, he earns only N420,000 per month. According to him, such poor remuneration makes it difficult for Nigerian lecturers to compete on the global stage.
In September 2024, ASUU issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to resolve several outstanding issues, including the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the release of withheld salaries from the 2022 strike. ASUU’s members went on an eight-month strike in 2022 to demand improved welfare and funding for the education sector. The Buhari administration responded by invoking a “no work, no pay” policy, withholding the lecturers’ salaries.
Although President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four months’ worth of the withheld salaries in October 2023, ASUU members insist that they should be paid for the full duration of the strike. Osodeke argued that clearing four months of the outstanding salaries does not resolve the crisis, saying, “The Tinubu administration has not done lecturers any favours by clearing just four of the about eight months’ withheld salaries.”
Meanwhile, non-academic unions such as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) have also raised concerns, as they were not paid any portion of the withheld salaries. Both unions had embarked on strikes earlier in March 2022, but Education Minister Tahir Mamman recently indicated that the government would consider paying them half of the outstanding wages.
ASUU continues to push for the full payment of salaries owed to its members while urging the government to prioritise education funding to avoid further crises in the sector.
