The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected a plan to compel the union as a ‘guarantor’ of loans, under the Tertiary Institutional Staff Support Fund scheme, recently introduced by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The union’s position was contained in its resolution, signed by the ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, following a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS), from Saturday, August 16, to Sunday, August 17, 2025.
ASUU noted that its rejection of the loan scheme for tertiary institution staff followed extensive deliberations by participants at the NEC meeting.
Piwuna said, “NEC deliberated extensively on the proposed Tertiary Institutions Support Fund. Consequently, NEC rejected the ploy to conscript ASUU as “Guarantor” of loans the union knows nothing about and demands that ASUU be delisted from the process.”
The union also stated plans to initiate press conferences and protest actions across its branches, on a date to be announced soon.
“NEC discussed the state of the struggle and the government’s slow pace in addressing the issues in contention. Consequently, NEC resolved to organise protests across all the branches simultaneously on a fixed date,” the resolution read.
It added, “As part of the protest activities, press conferences would be held in all branches. The date for the said protests and press conferences would be communicated in due course.”
In late July, the federal ministry of education announced a welfare-focused loan initiative for academic and non-academic staff members, under the caveat that the initiative was aimed at promoting financial stability, improving quality of life and career advancement among tertiary institutions’ workers.
