The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nigeria’s foremost university lecturers’ union, has raised alarm over what it described as deepening mismanagement of funds and persistent governance weaknesses undermining the stability and academic integrity of universities across the country.
The warning was issued by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Chris Pinuwa, during the formal unveiling of the 2025 agreement reached between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the union. The event took place on Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city and the seat of the federal government.
Okay News reports that Professor Pinuwa cautioned that these governance lapses were steadily eroding accountability, weakening institutional stability, and lowering academic standards within the Nigerian university system.
According to the union leader, fragile governance frameworks in several universities have continued to obstruct the effective utilization of public resources, despite repeated calls for reform and transparency in university administration.
Professor Pinuwa stated that while university autonomy is acknowledged in principle and partially entrenched in Nigerian law, its real-world implementation remains largely ineffective. He explained that this gap has created room for frequent external interference in the internal affairs of universities.
He noted that the arbitrary dissolution of governing councils and undue interference in the appointment of vice-chancellors have become recurring challenges. According to him, such practices undermine merit-based leadership selection and destabilize university governance structures.
Pinuwa further warned that these interventions often trigger prolonged conflicts, court cases, and deep staff polarization, all of which disrupt academic calendars and weaken effective institutional management.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities president also expressed concern about what he described as the growing culture of prolonged acting vice-chancellorships across Nigerian universities. He stressed that this trend weakens institutional authority and called for closer scrutiny of governing councils and principal officers to protect the integrity of the university system.
Addressing the issue of research funding, Professor Pinuwa emphasized that adequate and sustainable funding is critical to the relevance and global competitiveness of Nigerian universities in an increasingly knowledge-driven world.
He said research and development funding formed a major pillar of the 2025 re-negotiated agreement between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Nigerian universities have faced paucity of research funding for a very long time, and I am glad that research and development funding is a component of the 2025 ASUU-FG re-negotiated agreement.
“It was agreed that the National Research Council Bill shall be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration.
“The proposed bill shall provide for at least one per cent equivalent of GDP as a source of funding for research, innovation and development.
“It is my belief that, as stakeholders, members of the National Assembly will expedite action in the passage of the bill,” he said.
Professor Pinuwa also criticized promotion practices in some newly established federal universities of education, alleging that established procedures and standards for professorial appointments were being compromised.
He warned that the conversion of colleges of education into universities should not come at the cost of lowering academic benchmarks, stressing that such practices could damage the credibility of the entire university system.
Consequently, the union leader called on vice-chancellors of the affected institutions to urgently review such promotions to safeguard academic integrity and restore confidence in Nigeria’s higher education sector.
