On Tuesday, the Federal Government announced the reconstitution of a new committee tasked with renegotiating the 2009 agreements between the government and various university-based unions. The committee has been given a three-month timeframe to complete its work. This marks the fourth renegotiation committee established by the government since 2017, with previous committees being led by Wale Babalakin in 2017, Munzali Jubril in 2020, and Nimi Briggs in 2022.
The renegotiation process has been long and complex, with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarking on a nine-month strike in 2020, which ended in December that year. In response to the strike, the government inaugurated a committee led by Prof. Munzali Jubril in 2021, which, after extensive discussions with ASUU, produced recommendations in a draft agreement.
In June 2022, the Nimi Briggs Committee submitted another draft agreement, which was the outcome of collective bargaining between the government and the unions. However, with ASUU issuing a fresh ultimatum recently, the Ministry of Education, under the leadership of Minister Tahir Mamman, has now unveiled yet another committee to address the outstanding issues and move the negotiations forward.
