Professor Chris Piwuna has officially taken over as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), succeeding Professor Emmanuel Osodeke.
Piwuna, formerly ASUU Vice President and a Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Jos, was elected during the union’s 23rd National Delegates Congress in Benin City. As he assumes leadership, he is expected to press for the immediate implementation of the union’s longstanding demands from the federal government.
Despite government claims of addressing 80% of ASUU’s demands—such as salary increases, partial salary payments during past strikes, and limited university autonomy—ASUU insists that major issues remain unresolved. These include full university autonomy, outstanding academic allowances, and comprehensive salary reviews. The previous eight-month strike in 2022 under Osodeke’s leadership highlighted these persistent grievances, further intensified by the federal government’s enforcement of a No-Work-No-Pay policy.
President Bola Tinubu’s recent efforts, including the reinstatement of governing councils across federal tertiary institutions, aim to ease tensions and avert another strike. The new ASUU leadership under Piwuna is being closely watched to see whether it will lead to renewed negotiations or further confrontations, as the union continues to demand systemic reforms in Nigeria’s university system.
