ASUU Blasts FG, Says Pay Our Salaries,Stop Distracting Us With Unsolicited Loans

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has formally rejected the Federal Government’s inclusion of the union in the Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF), describing it as a ploy to conscript ASUU as a guarantor for loans it neither approved nor understands. The union demands immediate delisting from the loan scheme, urging the government instead to release the withheld three and a half months’ salaries owed to its members.

ASUU made its position known in a communiqué following its National Executive Council meeting at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto. Signed by ASUU President Christopher Piwuna, the communiqué emphasized that salary arrears hold more immediate value and relief for university staff compared to loans under the TISSF, a zero-interest scheme that offers up to ₦10 million to academic and non-academic staff of tertiary institutions. The union called the loan offer a distraction from pressing welfare issues.

“We reject being made guarantors of loans we know nothing about,” the statement said, highlighting the union’s demand for the government to fast-track the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, along with progress on longstanding disputes involving conditions of service, university funding, autonomy, and academic freedom.

The Federal Government, through the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, launched the TISSF with claims that the scheme would empower staff financially, supporting purposes ranging from transportation and medical needs to micro-enterprise projects. However, ASUU and other unions like the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) rejected the initiative, advocating instead for the payment of outstanding salaries and arrears.

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ASUU has also resolved to mobilize nation-wide protests to press these demands and criticized the government’s slow response to the educational sector’s challenges. The union’s communiqué indicated upcoming coordinated press conferences and protests that would be announced soon.

Besides rejecting the loan scheme, ASUU noted that it is developing the Tertiary Institutions Transparency and Accountability Solution (TITAS) platform, aimed at promoting financial transparency in universities, which is progressing towards adoption by multiple institutions.

This rejection of the TISSF loan follows growing frustration among university staff, who have faced prolonged salary delays, unpaid promotion arrears, and unresolved agreements with the government, factors that contribute to continuous industrial action threats in the Nigerian tertiary education sector. ASUU insists that clearing these financial obligations would be more beneficial to academic staff and the system overall than introducing loan schemes that add financial burdens.