Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, on Wednesday, staged a solidarity protest demanding the implementation of the 2009 agreement reached between the federal government and the union.

The lecturers staged the peaceful protest at Agric Estate- Sango Centre of the university in Ilorin.

The union also urged Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara to pay arrears of their nine-year Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).

The chairman of KWASU ASUU, Shehu Abdulganiyu–Salau, who addressed journalists, said the union had previously met with the governor and got his assurance of payment as soon as the economy of the state improved.

” We have written several letters to the governor reminding him of his promise. We plead with him to pay us. We expect him to pay us the allowances as the allocations from Abuja to states have improved tremendously.

“Despite our efforts, we are yet to receive a positive response from the government,” Mr Abdulganiyu–Salau added.

He further said that third-party deductions have not been paid in most Nigerian universities.

According to him, at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, a larger percentage of EAA since 2013 is still outstanding.

” In KWASU, on the other hand, EAA has not been paid since 2016. The EAA of UNIOSUN members are arbitrarily amputated by 50 per cent between 2015 and 2019.

“To save the universities from pending avoidable crises, our union is calling on well-meaning Nigerians, opinion leaders, traditional and religious leaders to intervene,” Mr Abdulganiyu–Salau said.

The ASUU chairman urged the media, labour movements, students’ groups and civil society organisations to prevail on the federal and state governments to immediately set in motion the process of signing and implementing the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiated agreement, among other demands.

Mr Abdulganiyu-Salau said that the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement stipulated that the federal government would fund the EAA.

He said the commitment was reaffirmed in the December 2020 Memorandum of Action (MoA), which emphasised the integration of EAA into the monthly salaries of academic staff, with the next tranche scheduled for disbursement in 2021.

“Subsequently, ASUU and the federal government agreed on N50 billion to offset outstanding EAA obligations.

”Earlier in 2025, the federal government released the N50 billion.

“However, contrary to the agreement that the funds were exclusively for academic staff, the amount was distributed among all university staff, which resulted in a shortfall, with N10 billion still owed to academic staff.

”Furthermore, the mainstreaming of EAA, originally slated to commence in 2022, has yet to be implemented in federal and most state universities, rendering the commitment unfulfilled,” Mr Abdulganiyu-Salau stated.

(NAN)