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ASUU decries unpaid 2022 salaries, demands education review
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has called for a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s education system and decried the non-payment of the balance of lecturers’ withheld salaries from the 2022 nationwide strike.
The National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, made the call on Friday during a press conference in Jos, Plateau State.
He was flanked by other officials of the union including Bauchi Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Timothy Namo; branch chairmen of ASUU from the University of Jos and Plateau State University,Profs Jurbe Molwus and Dr Vincent Choji respectively as well as the Legal Committee chairman of the union and other union members on ground .
Addressing journalists, Piwuna read the union’s press text titled: “Nigerian Universities and Nigeria Today :Our Worries ,Our Propositions”
Speaking on the 2022 withheld salaries, Piwuna said: “In words and deeds, the Federal Government appears to have turned its back on paying the outstanding balance of lecturers’ three-and-half months arising from the 2022 nationwide strike action of ASUU.”
He noted that the union “had applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s initial pro-labour disposition for paying the four out of the seven-and-half months’ salaries withheld by the last administration.”
However, he added: “The non-payment of the balance has left a strong bitter taste in the mouths of ASUU members.”
Piwuna further stated: “The repeated union’s arguments that its members made extraordinary sacrifice to cover the last ground during the provoked-strike action and that paying the withheld salaries would further cement industrial harmony on the university campuses appear to have fallen on deaf ears. This is a sad development.”
The ASUU President said NEC “rejected government’s position” and “resolved to use all legitimate means available to the union to make the government reciprocate the goodwill ASUU members have demonstrated.”
He also expressed concern over “continuous delay in the payment of 25/35% wage award and promotion arrears of our members,” and called on “the Federal and affected State Government to urgently pay these entitlements in order to encourage our members and guarantee industrial harmony in our Universities.”
On the December 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement, Piwuna said: “The signing of the December 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement was seen by many as a significant move to arrest restiveness among academic staff of Federal and State universities and chart a new path of growth and stability for the Nigerian University System (NUS).”
But he lamented that “the haphazard implementations of the Agreement by governments at the two levels leave much to be desired; making the resurgence of campus unrest inevitable.”
He cited funding challenges, noting that “Vice-Chancellors of other federally-owned universities are struggling to partially implement the financial component of the Agreement or raise their empty hands in helplessness due to non-funding of their monthly salary bills by the federal government.”
At the state level, he said “only about 10% or less among the governors have openly endorsed the new salary package for academics; several others are playing the ostrich.”
Consequently, Piwuna announced that “NEC resolved to grant some affected state and federal universities permission to embark on varying degrees of industrial action to press home their demands.”
Among the institutions listed are Plateau State University, Bokkos, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Gombe State University, Abia State University, and Kaduna State University.
The ASUU President also condemned the harassment of members in some universities.
“The recent harassment of our members by Vice Chancellors in the following universities, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Imo State University (IMSU), and very recently Abia State University (ABSU), will not be tolerated by NEC,” he warned.
“For the avoidance of doubt, NEC will not consider calling off the action in these universities, until the victimisation of our members stops.”
Piwuna further accused the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation of stalling payments.
“The federal ministry of finance has deliberately stalled the payment of our promotion arrears and its foot dragging tactics in the release of our monthly salaries is becoming a trigger for restiveness on our campuses,”he said.
On broader national issues, ASUU called for a rethink of government policies.
“ASUU calls for a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s education system to reflect the country’s peculiar socio-economic, cultural, technological and developmental realities rather than merely replicating models developed for other societies,” Piwuna said.
He added that “greater attention must be given to research, technical education, agriculture, innovation and the development of skills relevant to Nigeria’s needs.”
The union also criticized the TETFund policy on “tenable and non-tenable universities,” describing it as “discriminatory,” and condemned the rising insecurity ahead of the 2027 elections, saying: “The political class are the most significant and dangerous threat to Nigeria’s security. They are the ‘tribe’ that threaten us all.”
Piwuna concluded that “to derive maximum benefits from Nigeria’s public universities, however, the Federal and State governments must take urgent steps to address all outstanding issues of academic staff welfare as well as all matters arising from the FGN-ASUU Agreement of December 2025.”
Japa on reverse lane as the United States Department of Homeland Security, DHS, has updated its list of Nigerians facing removal from the country, reducing the number to 112 and publishing their names and photographs online.
The latest list features Nigerians from different parts of the country and was published through the DHS official website.
Among those listed are Cletus Onyali, Olaolu Alabi, Marcus Unigwe, Mkpouto Etukudoh, Blessing Uchanma, Olaniyi Ojikutu, Richard Ugbah, Oluwamuyiwa Olawoye, Anthony Asanya and Ebele Agbasiele
Others identified on the list include Izuchukwu Okoye, Olufemi Olufisayo Olutiola, Abiemwense Obanor, Chibuzo Nwaonu, Oluchi Jennifer Chimdimma Chime, Ifeanyi Okoro, Oluwaseun Kassim, Quazeem Adeyinka and Talatu Dada.
The complete list contains 112 names, with the photographs and details of the other individuals available through the DHS online portal.
The publication comes amid stepped-up immigration enforcement by the US government, particularly involving undocumented immigrants and individuals with outstanding removal orders.
It also comes against the backdrop of efforts by US authorities to obtain increased cooperation from foreign governments in receiving their nationals who have been ordered to leave the United States.
Nigeria has previously faced pressure from the US over the repatriation of its nationals subject to deportation.
The updated publication provides public access to the identities and photographs of the Nigerians currently identified by DHS for removal from the United States.
The Department of State Services, DSS, on Thursday re-arraigned five men accused of complicity in the May 15 kidnap of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and the subsequent killing of two of the victims.
They were arraigned on a seven-count amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2026, filed by the DSS on behalf of the Federal Government.
The defendants, accused of being members of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU) terrorist group, are Mahmud Muhammad (aka Abu Bara’a, Abbas Mukhtar); Abubakar Abbas (aka Isah Adam, Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri); Abdulrazak Umar (aka Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid); Yunusa Musa (aka Abu Yunusa Bin Musa); and Shamsu Adamu Sani (aka Abu Itisar).
All five defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them by the Registrar of the court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the DSS legal team, applied for the immediate trial of the defendants in line with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
He also applied for the names of witnesses lined up to testify in the trial to be shielded and for them to be permitted to wear masks to ensure their protection.
Following no objection from counsel to the defendants, Bala Dakum, Justice Salim Ibrahim granted the request of the DSS counsel.
At the time of filing this report, arrangements for the full-scale trial were being put in place.
LAGOS — A post-mortem examination conducted by the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has confirmed that 20-year-old journalist Pelumi Onifade died from a penetrating firearm injury to the abdomen.
The finding is contained in a six-page autopsy report dated July 30, 2026, and submitted to the Lagos State Coroner’s Court investigating the circumstances surrounding the young journalist’s death during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
According to the report, Onifade died from massive haemoperitoneum, a severe accumulation of blood in the abdominal cavity, caused by a high-velocity projectile that penetrated his abdomen.
The forensic finding provides medical evidence establishing a gunshot injury as the cause of death, while the circumstances surrounding who fired the shot and the events that followed remain matters before the coroner’s proceedings.
How Onifade Died
Onifade was a 200-level History student of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) and worked as an intern reporter with Gboah TV, a Lagos-based online news platform.
On October 24, 2020, during the nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality, he was assigned to cover an attempted looting at a government palliative storage facility in the Abattoir area of Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos.
According to accounts presented by his family and colleagues, Onifade was wearing a press jacket and carrying reporting equipment when officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force opened fire while attempting to disperse the crowd.
He was reportedly struck by a bullet and subsequently taken away in a police van, commonly referred to as a Black Maria.
A colleague who was with him at the scene reportedly attempted to identify him as a journalist and explain that he was carrying camera equipment, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
Onifade was not seen alive again after that incident.
Family Searched Police Stations, Hospitals
Following his disappearance, his family and colleagues searched police stations, detention facilities and hospitals across Lagos in an attempt to establish his whereabouts.
According to the family, police authorities denied having him in custody.
Six days later, on October 30, 2020, the family located his body at the mortuary of Ikorodu General Hospital, where it had been registered as a “brought-in-dead” case under body number 1385.
The discovery triggered years of demands for an independent investigation into how the young journalist died and how his remains ended up in the mortuary.
DNA Test Identified the Body
The identity of the body was subsequently confirmed through forensic DNA testing.
Results from the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre established a match between the unidentified body bearing tag number 1385 and reference samples obtained from Onifade’s parents.
The DNA confirmation provided a crucial breakthrough after years of uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts and identity of the missing journalist.
Court Ordered Coroner’s Inquest
The search for accountability later moved into the courts.
In July 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Lagos State Government and the police to conduct a coroner’s inquest into Onifade’s death.
The objective of the inquest is to establish the circumstances surrounding his death and determine the facts surrounding the actions of the security personnel involved.
The ongoing proceedings before the Lagos State Coroner’s Court are being presided over by Magistrate Temitope Oladele.
Following the submission of the post-mortem report, the court has directed key witnesses, including police personnel who were on duty in the Oko-Oba area on October 24, 2020, to appear and testify.
Rights Groups Demand Accountability
Media Rights Agenda (MRA), which has supported the Onifade family in its legal efforts, has described the post-mortem findings as significant evidence in the case.
Rights activists, journalist unions, and the deceased’s family continue to demand the public prosecution of the police officers who fired the shot and those who supervised the deployment during the Lagos #EndSARS demonstrations.
Japa on reverse lane as US releases names, photos of 112 Nigerians on deportation list
Oyo kidnap: Five defendants plead not guilty to seven count charges
Autopsy Confirms #EndSARS Journalist Pelumi Onifade Died From Gunshot Wound
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