The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has firmly denied receiving the ₦50 billion revitalisation fund the Federal Government recently claimed to have disbursed, describing the announcement as misleading and far from reality.
In a statement released on Wednesday and signed by Prof. Jurbe Molwus, the union said none of its core demands had been met ahead of its upcoming National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for November 8 and 9, 2025. Molwus recalled that ASUU had earlier suspended its two-week warning strike in good faith, following assurances from senior government officials that tangible progress would be made.
“As we prepare for the NEC meeting, we had expected that outstanding entitlements like the 3.5 months of withheld salaries, 25/35% wage award arrears, promotion arrears, and the unpaid salaries of some members would have been settled by now,” Molwus stated. “Instead, all we keep hearing are press statements from the Minister of Education. What we need are credit alerts, not empty promises.”
He expressed frustration over the government’s repeated claims, emphasizing that the supposed ₦50 billion fund had yet to reflect in any university account. “It’s unfortunate that even the ₦50bn revitalisation fund the government boasted about weeks ago hasn’t reached the universities. We have no idea why the Minister of Education is still holding on to it,” he added.
Molwus also took aim at the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Maruf Alausa, who recently claimed that ₦2.3 billion had been released to clear salary and promotion arrears across federal universities. He dismissed the statement as false and out of touch with the reality on campuses.
“The minister said ₦2.3bn has been paid to settle arrears in all federal universities, but as we speak, no one has received any such payment. His claim of clearing backlogs exists only in his imagination,” Molwus asserted. “He also boasted about improving staff welfare, and we’re left wondering—how exactly?”
ASUU’s remarks come as tensions heighten within the education sector, with lecturers growing increasingly frustrated over what they describe as the government’s pattern of unfulfilled promises.
