Booming Revenues, Closing Campuses

There is a cruel irony playing out across Nigeria in recent times. Just as President Tinubu is celebrating unprecedented revenue allocation to states after subsidy removal and forex unification, lecture halls in state universities are emptying. Allocations to states have never been higher, just as the lecture halls have never been emptier.

As of last week, academic activities have been shut down in at least 20 state-owned universities after ASUU’s national NEC directed a total and indefinite action following the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum over “haphazard implementation” of the 2025 FG/ASUU agreement. In Ondo State, both Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko and the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa have withdrawn services, while in Edo State Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma joined on August 25. Plateau State University, Bokkos is also down, alongside Nasarawa State University; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai; Gombe State University; Kaduna State University; Kano State University of Science and Technology; Northwest University; Taraba State University; University of Medical Sciences, Ondo; Abia State University; University of Education and Entrepreneurship, Akamkpa; Enugu State University of Science and Technology; Imo State University; Niger Delta University; University of Africa, Toru-Orua; and Bayelsa Medical University. At AAUA, the branch chairman captured the mood succinctly: “We will call off the strike when we receive alert in our bank accounts. Alert of the implementation and the arrears starting from January.”

The picture is not uniform, and that is what makes the shutdown more painful. A handful of states have moved ahead and their campuses remain open. ASUU named Ekiti State University, Benue State University, Osun State University, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and Kwara State University among those that have commenced the new package, and about 16 state universities in total including those in Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Kano and Nasarawa have started implementation. The difference, clearly, is political will and not the availability of funds.

Even where teaching continues, the peace is fragile. Two ASUU zones have issued final warnings. The Benin Zone covering Edo, Delta and Ondo has served the state governments notice, threatening an indefinite strike in 11 universities if they fail to act, while the Yola Zone has also put Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Yobe on notice. Kaduna State University has also issued a fresh 14-day ultimatum over the non-implementation of the salary increase.

What is driving this wave is not new. It is the 2025 FG/ASUU agreement that states signed but have refused to honour. Lecturers are demanding the 40% upward review through Consolidated Academic Allowance and CATA effective January 1, 2026, payment of arrears from January 2026 and 22 months of outstanding 25%/35% wage award, as well as Earned Academic Allowance, Professorial Allowance, Contributory Pension Scheme, university autonomy, promotion arrears, death benefits, group life insurance, staff security and accommodation. Federal universities and at least 10 state universities have already implemented, which ASUU describes as proof that continued refusal elsewhere is “provocative and unjust.”

This is happening at the very moment the president is boasting of record FAAC inflows, and that is why the optics are so damaging. Critics note that there is “no excuse for the neglect of state-owned universities,” pointing out that Kaduna alone allocates up to 25% of its annual budget to education yet still faces grievances. If states cannot reliably fund salaries, pensions and allowances for lecturers despite higher revenue, the question being asked in policy circles is simple is: how will they fund, equip and retain a state police force without it collapsing into arrears, poor morale and selective enforcement?

During the debate on state policing, many warned that handing more responsibilities to states without fixing fiscal discipline looked “less like empowerment and more like exposure,” especially when state government structures are weak. The university strike is now the live test case for that argument.

Breaking the logjam will require hard choices. First, education obligations arising from the 2025 agreement and its arrears should be treated as a first-line charge from FAAC allocations, like debt service, with no virement until lecturers are paid. Second, the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum should publish a compliance dashboard so that progress in states like EKSU, BSU, UNIOSUN, LAUTECH and KWASU is visible and replicable. Third, where states cannot pay lump sums, they should sign binding schedules with ASUU for staggered payment of arrears, deducted at source, so that “alert in bank accounts” stops being a protest chant. Fourth, governing councils need real autonomy to manage IGR and overheads. Some states have already released N200m and N300m for operations but this must come with annual audit and ASUU representation to ensure transparency.

Finally, as the conversation on devolving security continues, education and health funding performance should serve as a gateway. If a state cannot pay its lecturers, it cannot be trusted with additional payrolls and arsenals.

Nigeria cannot afford another lost session. The revenue is here. The agreement is signed. What is missing is leadership at state level, and until governors treat the classroom with the same seriousness they treat FAAC meetings, our campuses will remain the first casualty of prosperity.