By Ifeizu Joe
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Owerri Zone has warned the federal government about waning trust in the implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement reached.
The coordinator of ASUU in the zone, Prof Dennis Aribodor who briefed journalists at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka on Tuesday said the zone has maintained a studied silence since the signing of the December 2025 Agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and its public presentation in January 2026.
While presenting their review of the outcome of the implementation of the signed agreement and other outstanding issues, Aribodor warned that trust which the union has in government may be entirely lost if the agreement is not kept.
He said: “We are apprehensive that the momentum of trust and goodwill generated with the unveiling of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement on 14th January, 2026 is fast waning and may soon be lost if government’s promise to fully implement the agreement is not kept.
“Our apprehension is predicated on government’s failure to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) expected to shield the agreement from bureaucratic bottlenecks and guide its strategic actualization.
“So far, the Federal Government agents have implemented it in a distorted and an uncoordinated manner while very few state governments have embraced and implemented aspects of the Agreement.
“Administrators of Federal universities are picking and choosing what to pay among the Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and Professorial Allowances (PA) whereas all of these should have been mainstreamed with the Consolidated Academic Staff Salary Scale (CONUASS) as monthly salary packages for the concerned academic staff.”
The coordinator lamented that two universities within the zone, which are owned by the Anambra and Imo State governments have continued to face challenges, especially academic staff of the universities.
He said: “Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) and Imo State University Owerri (IMSU) have key issues demanding the urgent attention of their visitors. The issues demanding urgent attention.
“At COOUTH, they include; withheld salaries of academic staff that participated in the 2020 and 2022 Strike actions, the non-implementation of 25% and 35% wage awards and the current N70,000 minimum wage, the non-implementation of all the components of the 2025 ASUU-FGN agreement.
“At IMSU, of particular concern is the non-implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement, the continued retention of university in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the state government which undermines institutional autonomy and hampers effective administration, the prolonged delay in staff promotion, non-payment of promotion arrears, absence of staff recruitment since 2015 among others.”
Asked if these issues could lead members of the union to down tools, Aribodor said its members do not enjoy going on strike as it affects their economy and we’ll bring.
“They is why we are raising these concerns on time, telling the media to amplify our voices, so that it does not get to the point where we have to embark on strike,” he stated.
