*Photo: Professor Kehinde Yusuf*
One of the big news items in the Nigerian university system today is the demise of Professor Biodun Jeyifo on 11 February, 2026. Professor Jeyifo was an alumnus of the University of Ibadan and New York University. He taught at the University of Ibadan, the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University [OAU], Ile-Ife), Cornell University and Harvard University, among other institutions. He was a sound intellectual and an exemplary mentor.
In a widely-acknowledged tribute to him, Sola Adeyemi remarked in ThisDay newspaper on 12 February, 2026: “One of the most defining chapters of Jeyifo’s early career was his role in the founding and consolidation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), a union that would become central to the defence of academic freedom and the struggle for better conditions within Nigerian higher education. As one of its pioneering organisers, he helped articulate the union’s intellectual and moral foundations, insisting that the university must serve the public good rather than the whims of military or civilian power.”
Adeyemi continued: “Those who were there in the early years recall his tireless commitment: travelling the length and breadth of Nigeria in his battered Volkswagen Beetle, visiting campuses large and small, persuading sceptical colleagues, drafting communiqués by candlelight, and building the solidarities that would allow ASUU to withstand decades of political pressure. His leadership was marked by courage, strategic clarity and an unwavering belief that scholars must stand together if they are to defend the integrity of their work. That early labour, which was arduous, often dangerous, and undertaken with characteristic humility, remains one of the cornerstones of his public legacy.”
However, following the ‘Jeyifo-an’ years of glory, ASUU began to slide, and some of the scepticism that marked the union’s founding years resurged. Then Professor Jeyifo’s dear union started evolving into a straitjacket and a vortex of suffocating academic union monopoly. Judging by his vast experience as a former President of ASUU, considering the unedifying attitude of some of the actors in the OAU-related contention within the union to his noble reconciliation efforts and reviewing the relative commitment of key figures in the imbroglio to their opposing positions, Professor Jeyifo foresaw and reconciled himself to the inevitability of the irreversible split of ASUU.
Since, as the sagely saying goes, “to be human is to be free,” this evolutionary process culminated in an implosion in 2018 that saw the union split into two – ASUU and the Congress of University Academics (CONUA). Another split in ASUU in 2022 saw the formation of the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA). CONUA and NAMDA were duly registered by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment on 13 January, 2023.
ASUU challenged this registration at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) and judgement was delivered on 25 July, 2023 in favour of the registration of CONUA and NAMDA. This judgement was in consonance with especially Article 2 of Convention No. 87 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on freedom of association which states inter alia: “Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation.”
This ILO article coheres with Article 12(4) of the Trade Unions Act which states: “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act, membership of a trade union by employees shall be voluntary and no employee shall be forced to join any trade union or be victimised for refusing to join or remain a member.” As a Yoruba proverb puts it, in a commercial sense, “There’s no compulsion in selling a product and there’s no compulsion in buying it” (‘Ipá ò tajà, ipá ò ràá.’)
Interestingly, in his tribute to Professor Jeyifo, the current President of ASUU Professor Christopher Piwuna, said on 14 February, 2026: “The story of Comrade BJ’s life and times cannot be written without reference to his enviable contributions to the growth of our Union at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He was later awarded a well-deserved D.Lit. (Honoris Causa) by the same university in 2018. In his Acceptance Speech at the ceremony, BJ had declared: ‘Ife is the birthplace of ASUU; today, it is in a state of profound and crippling crisis in the university.’ His inability to resolve the implicit contradictions in the Ife story – which later spread to some other Nigerian universities – possibly remained one of his greatest regrets!”
In the circumstance and moving forward, in consonance with the Yoruba proverb, “A three-legged cooking fireplace prevents the soup pot from toppling over’ (‘Àrò méta ò kìí da obè nù’), these three unions – ASUU, CONUA and NAMDA – now need to redefine their essence, recalibrate and preserve the fundamental vision and mission of academic staff unionism as enunciated by the founding members and in line with ILO provisions.
For the three unions, the new situation needs to be one in which each new issue would be periscoped from different angles and each perspective would be tailored towards the overall goal of uplifting the Nigerian university system. Consistent with the English saying that “The more the merrier,” this new situation would facilitate the multi-pronged address of issues affecting university education and enhance the prospects of designing widely acceptable, enduring and effective policies for advancing education at the university level.
On 14 January, 2026, signalling a new measure of mutual understanding, a new agreement was signed between ASUU and the Federal Government. Some analysts believe that the offer made to ASUU by the government in the new agreement is not far-reaching enough to stop or significantly reverse the problem of brain-drain in the Nigerian university system. Others however believe that a major gain from the agreement is that it is trust-building, considering the relatively short duration of the negotiation in which the government team was headed by elder statesman and veteran bureaucrat Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, who is a former permanent secretary, former Minister and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The swiftness of the implementation by the government of some of the welfare components of the 2026 agreement, as assured by the Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa, is confidence-boosting. This new agreement has effectively brought an end to the 2009 agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government. The non-implementation of aspects of the 2009 agreement has often been cited as the source of acrimony and the patent reason for perennial strikes by members of the union. It is noteworthy that the Federal Government’s negotiations with CONUA, NAMDA, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and non-academic staff unions are currently ongoing.
Meanwhile, the government is faced with some moral questions regarding some unpaid salaries of academic staff in response to the 2022 ASUU strike. Having disavowed the adoption of strikes as a means of resolving disagreements with government, members of CONUA and NAMDA did not declare or join the ASUU strike of 2022. However, when the government decided to sanction ASUU by implementing the “No work, no pay” policy, it stopped the salaries of CONUA members who had expressly stated that they were not part of the strike. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has graciously decided to pay four months out of the seven-and-a-half months salaries withheld to all lecturers. This leaves three-and-a-half months of unpaid salaries.
The questions which this state of affairs raises are: Should government deny those who worked their legitimate earnings just because it does not want to pay those who went on strike? Should government unjustly withhold the salaries of those who worked in order to prevent those who did not work from having a reason to accuse the government of divisiveness? Would it not be better and more morally edifying to allow those who were on strike to get paid for the period of strike rather than deny those who were not on strike their just pay for work done?
The above-listed moral questions are related to Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP.T8 which states: “[W]here any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remuneration for the period of the lock-out and the period of lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights dependent on the continuity of period of employment.”
Apart from the moral point, there is the pragmatic basis for allowing government-union relationship to restart on a clean slate with no residual sense of deprivation or animosity. Indeed, the President of NICN, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip, noted in Paragraph 44 of his 30 May, 2023 judgement in a case instituted by the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Education against ASUU: “[I]t is perfectly lawful for an employer to choose to dispense with the ‘no work, no pay’ rule. In other words, payment of wages or salaries for the period of a strike action is lawful if an employer chooses to pay same and not to penalise the strikers in any other way for the strike.”
It would therefore be further ennobling for President Tinubu to authorise the release of the unpaid salaries, especially giving consideration to those who actually worked during the strike. The payment of these withheld salaries now would be in consonance with the compassion, mercy, generosity and opportunity for renewal that mark the ongoing Ramadhan and Lenten fasts.
Moreover, it would be increasingly beneficial if the loan scheme for staff of tertiary institutions, which President Tinubu initiated, could be converted into a staff vehicle loan scheme or be expanded to include a vehicle loan component with private sector participation. For the sake of efficiency, the respective universities should serve as guarantors of the applicants to the partnering banks. This model has worked efficiently in some other African universities. If the model is adopted, it would complement the National Housing Loans scheme, and broaden the government’s university staff welfare programmes. It would also help to fulfil President Tinubu’s commitment to the re-establishment of a robust credit economy in the nation.
In summary, the registration of CONUA and NAMDA are positive measures towards enhancing academic freedom and promoting the democratic culture in the Nigerian university system. The settlement of unpaid salaries would also be of immense value to university academic staff and prevent the distraction of the government from the implementation of its already-declared welfare-enhancing policies and the introduction of new ones. The initiation of the loan scheme for staff of tertiary institutions is also a well-considered facility which has potentials to be more functional if it could be expanded to accommodate a staff vehicle loan component.
This set of policies would enhance academic staff productivity and facilitate beneficial partnerships between the ivory tower and industry and government for national development, as we, as a nation, continue to re-imagine Nigerian university education.