Governor Uba Sani’s administration sets up a nine-member committee to resolve outstanding demands by ASUU-KASU and other university unions

The Kaduna State Government on Monday, August 24, 2026, approved N300m in Earned Academic Allowance for academic staff of Kaduna State University and constituted a nine-member committee to negotiate with ASUU-KASU and other staff unions over their outstanding demands.

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The intervention comes after renewed concerns over staff welfare, working conditions and unpaid entitlements at the university, with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, KASU chapter, recently issuing a two-week ultimatum to the state government and university management.

The union has, however, indicated that it prefers dialogue and remains willing to negotiate rather than disrupt academic activities.

In a statement, the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Dr Abdulkadir Meyere, said the new committee would undertake a comprehensive review of demands submitted by ASUU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union and the National Association of Academic Technologists.

Meyere said the N300m KASU allowance payment was part of the administration’s efforts to address accumulated entitlements and improve the welfare of university employees.

“The intervention demonstrates the administration’s commitment to staff welfare, industrial harmony and the stability of the university through constructive dialogue and sustainable solutions,” he said.

The SSG said the payment represented the latest step in Governor Uba Sani’s efforts to clear a backlog of more than N800m in accumulated entitlements and allowances dating back to 2016.

According to him, the government has also settled outstanding withheld salaries and released funds to clear arrears of supervision allowances under the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme.

The administration has further established a N50m monthly standing order dedicated to the systematic settlement of outstanding arrears and staff-related claims.

Meyere said the government had also spent more than N300m on the accreditation of academic programmes and resource verification exercises for postgraduate programmes at KASU.

The newly established committee is chaired by the Commissioner for Education, Professor Abubakar Sambo.

Its membership includes the Commissioner for Business, Innovation and Technology, Mrs Patience Fakai; Commissioner for Youth, Mrs Gloria Ibrahim; Chairman of the Local Government Service Board, Professor Ladan Sharehu; and Director-General of the Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority, Professor Usman Abubakar Zaria.

KASU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdullahi Ibrahim Musa, and Pro-Chancellor, Dr Ibrahim Umar, are also members of the committee.

The Permanent Secretary, General Services, in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, will serve as a member, while the Permanent Secretary, Establishments, Services and Training, will act as secretary.

The committee has four weeks to complete its assignment and submit recommendations to the state government.

Its terms of reference include examining the unions’ demands, including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, and comparing KASU’s conditions of service with prevailing arrangements at other state-owned universities.

The panel will also assess the financial implications of implementing demands arising from the 2025 agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government.

The government said the committee was expected to propose “practical, equitable and financially sustainable options” for resolving the outstanding issues.

Meyere urged the unions to continue using dialogue, negotiation and collective bargaining to settle disputes, warning that industrial action could disrupt the academic calendar and impose additional difficulties on students and their families.

He said the state government’s channels of engagement remained open and reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening KASU, improving staff welfare and maintaining uninterrupted academic activities.

The latest intervention follows a recent dispute between the state government and ASUU-KASU over welfare, staff retention and other institutional challenges.

The union had raised concerns about unpaid allowances and conditions of service, while the government disputed claims that more than 200 academic staff had left the university because of poor working conditions.

Government records, according to the state administration, show that 59 academic staff left KASU between January 2024 and August 2026. The affected personnel included professors, associate professors and other academic staff.

The government also said more than N896m had been spent on staff welfare at the university during the period.

Despite the disagreement over the scale and causes of staff departures, ASUU-KASU chairman, Dr Abubakar Abdullahi, has maintained that the union is not eager to embark on a strike.

“Even if the government calls us now, we are ready to move. Anything that will bring peace to the system, stability, that is what we want,” Abdullahi said.

The position creates an opportunity for the new committee to address the dispute before it escalates into another disruption of university activities.

For the Kaduna Government, the immediate challenge will be to translate the N300m payment and broader financial interventions into a credible settlement of the unions’ outstanding concerns.

For ASUU-KASU and the other staff unions, the four-week negotiation period will provide an opportunity to push for clearer commitments on allowances, working conditions and the implementation of agreed terms without resorting to industrial action.

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The outcome of the committee’s work could therefore prove crucial to maintaining stability at KASU as both sides seek a sustainable resolution to the long-running dispute.