News

ASUU Directs Members To Begin Nationwide Strike Education

Published

3 weeks ago

July 8, 2025

…UNIJOS, UniAbuja join strike

The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has confirmed that a directive has been issued for all branches of the union nationwide to withdraw their services over the delay in the payment of June 2025 salaries to its members, citing the enforcement of “No Pay, No Work” resolution.

ASUU branches in two federal universities, the University of Jos and the University of Abuja, have already commenced strike action in compliance with the directive.

President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, who confirmed the development to Tribune Online on Monday in Abuja, said what the institutions are doing is simply enforcing a National Executive Council (NEC) resolution of the union that any month in which salaries are delayed beyond three days, members should withdraw their services until the salaries are paid.

Piwuna lamented the lackadaisical attitude of government officials toward the issue of lecturers’ salaries, which he described as a paltry amount.

He explained that since the migration of university workers from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), union members have experienced significant hardship due to salary delays.

He disclosed that the leadership of the union has engaged relevant government officials, including the Minister of Education and the Accountant General of the Federation, without any positive result. Hence, the ASUU NEC resolved to enforce the “No Pay, No Work” policy.

He said: “What they are doing is just enforcing a NEC resolution. We have agreed at NEC that our members are going through a lot since our migration out of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System. Certainly, our salaries are delayed for a week and sometimes 10 days before our members receive the paltry amount we get to help us carry out our duties well.

“Therefore, we agreed that if there is no pay, there will be no work,” Piwuna said.

On whether other universities are joining the strike action, the ASUU President said all institutions that have not been paid are expected to withdraw their services, insisting that this was the resolution at NEC and the only way to address the challenge, which he noted is being deliberately caused by some government officials, especially at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

He said any institution that has not been paid will join the action because “we are tired of talking about this.”

“We have spoken to the relevant authorities—the minister is aware, the Office of the Accountant General is aware. All those concerned are aware that this thing has been happening. We’ve had meetings with them to express our dissatisfaction with the way our salaries are being paid, and they have not taken any action. We want to work, but we cannot because they have not allowed us to work,” he stated.

Piwuna maintained that the government has no genuine reason for the delay in salary payments because the platform used for payments has no issues.

According to him, when the money finally gets to the universities, nobody has complained of being underpaid or not receiving their salary.

“So, the platform through which the payment is effected has not been the problem. It’s just a deliberate effort by the Office of the Accountant General to delay the release of the funds. The platform is working well, but those who make it work are not willing to make it work. We think it’s a deliberate act; that is the point we are making,” the ASUU President added.

He, however, noted that the issue of salary delays is the immediate challenge facing union members and warned that the outstanding N10 billion Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) should be released promptly by the government to avoid another round of struggle.

He noted that the Federal Government was supposed to pay lecturers N50 billion in outstanding EAA but only released N40 billion, leaving a balance of N10 billion.

“On the EAA you talked about, the total amount was N50 billion, and what they gave to us is N40 billion. N10 billion is still outstanding. We hope that this is paid quickly so that we do not have to fight over it,” the ASUU President said.

Chairman of the University of Jos branch of ASUU, Jurbe Molwus, had announced the withdrawal of services by members of the union at the university, citing the delay in the payment of their June 2025 salaries.

Molwus said this followed the National Executive Council resolution directing branches to take action when salaries are not paid by the third day of a new month, and the congress affirming the position. He said union members have abstained from lectures and statutory meetings.

The chairman stated further that any time salaries are not paid by the third day of the month, there would be a continuous withdrawal of services by the lecturers.

He also said the strike monitoring team of the branch had been activated to ensure compliance.

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja branch, have also withdrawn their services on Monday as a result of the delay in the payment of their June 2025 salaries, Nigerian Tribune has gathered.

Chairman of the UniAbuja branch of ASUU, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, did not return calls to confirm the strike action by his members.

The spokesperson of the University of Abuja, Dr. Habib Yakoob, when contacted, however said he was not in a position to speak on the issue and advised that the question be directed to the branch chairman of ASUU.

News

Otuaro Lauds Tinubu For Backing PAP’s Peacebuilding Process In Niger Delta

Published

14 hours ago

July 30, 2025

Editor

The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, has expressed deep appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his huge support for the programme’s peacebuilding process in the Niger Delta.

Otuaro spoke on Wednesday while delivering his remarks at the opening ceremony for the second batch of the Leadership, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Media Training organised by the PAP for its stakeholders in collaboration with the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja.

The first batch of the three-day workshop took place from July 16 to July 18, 2025 at the same venue- the Nigerian Army Resource Centre.

Otuaro, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Igoniko Oduma, attributed Tinubu’s firm backing of the programme’s peacebuilding initiative to the president’s strong desire for sustainable peace, stability and development in the region and indeed Nigeria.

Otuaro said the President’s massive support for the PAP stemmed from his concern for a better and assured future for the people of the Niger Delta, stressing that “a better tomorrow for our region must be secured today through a deliberate peace process that is massively supported by the President.”

He told the participants that they were critical partners for peace and stability in the region and that the workshop was aimed at improving their leadership and mediation capacity as peace ambassadors of the programme.

Otuaro, while declaring the worskship open, said, “I am very grateful to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for believing in the peacebuilding initiative undertaken by the PAP in our villages and communities in the Niger Delta.

“Mr President’s support has been tremendous, and it shows his profound commitment and dedication to peace, stability and security for the accelerated development and socio-economic advancement in our region.

“So, I want Niger Delta people and all stakeholders to thank Mr President for his remarkable support for the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the peace process that my leadership has embarked upon in our region.

“As stakeholders of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, you (the participants) are worthy ambassadors in the peacebuilding project in our region, and I want you to know that we all have a responsibility to also support Mr President by working assiduously for sustainable peace in and around our communities.”

He also extended profound gratitude to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his “tireless efforts at providing valuable inputs and interventions in the implementation of the programme’s objectives.”

He assured the participants and other Niger Delta stakeholders of his commitment to his policy of inclusivity, adding that plans were ongoing to empower the region’s women “because they were also casualties in the struggle.”

The PAP helmsman, therefore, urged the participants to shun all forms of distractions and take active part in the training so they could gain vital lessons that would be useful to them in their roles as peace ambassadors.

News

BREAKING: Tinubu Appoints New Federal Fire Service Boss

Published

22 hours ago

July 30, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Adeyemi Olumode, as the new Federal Fire Service, FFS, Controller-General.

The appointment was announced on Wednesday on behalf of the Federal Government by retired Maj.-Gen Abdulmalik Jubril, Secretary of the Civil, Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board, CDCFIB.

Jubril said the appointment followed the retirement of the current Controller-General, Abdulganiyu Jaji, on August 13.

Jaji is retiring upon attaining the age of 60 by August 13.

Jibril further disclosed said that Adeyemi Olumode is qualified for the position, having attended and passed all mandatory in-service training, Command courses as well as other courses within and outside the country.

“He brings a wealth of experience to his new role, having transferred his service from the FCT Fire Service to the Federal Fire Service and grown to the rank of DCG in the Human Resource Directorate of the Service Headquarters.

“He has served in various capacities and is equally a member/fellow of the following professional associations including Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria, Institute of Public Administration of Nigeria and Chartered Institute of Treasury Management of Nigeria.”

News

[OPINION] Northern Amnesia: Governor Sani, The Table Shaker

Published

22 hours ago

July 30, 2025

Editor

By Israel Adebiyi

“When truth is buried underground, it grows, it chokes, it gathers such explosive force that on the day it bursts out, it blows up everything with it.”
— Émile Zola

There’s a kind of silence that settles over the land after years of failure. A silence made of shame, denial, and carefully chosen half-truths. In Northern Nigeria, that silence has become an institution — polite, predictable, and profoundly dangerous.

Then came Uba Sani — with words that cut through like harmattan wind.

At a recent citizen engagement summit in Kaduna, Governor Uba Sani did what few northern politicians have ever dared. He faced the region and told it the truth: “We failed our people.” Not they. We. All of us who have held power in the North in the past two decades, he said, must offer the people an apology.

In that single moment, he shattered the convenient forgetfulness the North has grown used to. He didn’t call out Abuja. He didn’t drag the South. He didn’t blame some vague colonial past or “outsiders.” He pointed the finger inward — and included himself.

That is no small thing. That is not politics. That is an act of courage.

Because what Governor Sani spoke to is not just political miscalculation. It’s a generational betrayal. A betrayal that has left too many Northern children unschooled, too many women dying in childbirth, too many communities in darkness, and too many homes listening for the next gunshot.

Let’s stop for a moment and look at the evidence — not the emotion, but the math.

According to the 2022 National Multidimensional Poverty Index, nine of the ten poorest states in Nigeria are in the North. In Sokoto, over 90% of people live in poverty. Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa — same story. We’re not just failing; we’ve normalized failure.

And yet, this is the region that has held the most power in Nigeria since independence. Presidents. Military heads of state. Senators. Generals. Governors. Ministers. National Security Advisers. We’ve produced them all. But not the outcomes.

We’ve built palaces in Abuja, but not a working school in Shinkafi. We’ve padded budgets but abandoned hospitals in Birnin Kebbi. In some states, over 60% of children aged 6–15 have never seen the inside of a classroom. What kind of leadership allows this?

Northern mothers still die in delivery rooms at three times the national average, according to the latest NDHS report. Some rural health centres don’t even have paracetamol. The elites fly abroad. The poor bury their dead.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: [OPINION] BUHARI: The Man Who Missed Redemption

Security? Forget it. From Zamfara to Katsina to Niger, bandits have made homes out of forests. Whole villages are ghost towns. And yet, most of the top military chiefs in the last decade came from this region. Who, then, is to blame?

Let’s talk money. The North is land-rich but cash-poor. While Lagos alone contributes over 30% to Nigeria’s GDP, most northern states struggle to hit 1%. But the same northern governors go cap-in-hand for federal allocation and call it development. Where are the industries? Where is the productivity?

This is what Sani is shaking — a region that has grown comfortable with underdevelopment and allergic to self-reflection.

Some elites have pushed back, of course. Former senators and political juggernauts who built their careers on recycled loyalty have tried to downplay his remarks. They say he was too harsh. That he forgot their “service”. That he shouldn’t “wash dirty linen in public.”

But if that linen hasn’t been washed for 40 years, where should it be aired?

Let’s be honest — it is easier to blame Buhari, or Tinubu, or the South. But Sani refuses the easy route. He says: we, the North, are not victims here. We are architects of our own decline.

He refuses to play the amnesia game.

You can feel the discomfort in the air. He has stepped on toes — and many of those toes wear agbadas. But the truth is not about comfort. It’s about course correction.

This isn’t about just Uba Sani. It’s about whether the North still has the capacity to face its reflection. To see the rot — and clean house. To stop building dynasties and start building schools. To stop naming roads after ancestors and start giving roads to rural farmers.

Too many of our children are stuck in almajiri cycles while the children of the elite occupy UK universities. Too many of our mothers die in labor while wives of past governors set up foundations for photo-ops. Too many old names have stayed too long — and are grooming their sons for the throne.

That is what Governor Sani is fighting: not just silence, but the inheritance of silence.

He says, “Let’s apologise.” But apology alone is not enough. It must be backed with a plan. A Marshall Plan for the North — real investment, not campaign slogans. Functional education, not workshops. Security that protects, not retaliates. Jobs that empower, not enslave.

It must come with the rethinking of what power is: not title, not convoy, not prayer photos — but legacy measured in lives changed, not lives lost.

Governor Sani’s voice may be lonely now. But history listens to such voices. And perhaps, just perhaps, in that lone voice, the North might find a new beginning.

Because silence, when it becomes tradition, is nothing but consent.

And now, one man has dared to shout.