Benue, Lecturers Sign Pay Deal as Students Await Reopening After Two-Month Shutdown
The Benue State Government and a union representing lecturers in state-owned tertiary institutions have signed an agreement on salaries and outstanding arrears, raising hopes of movement in a dispute that has kept students out of classrooms for more than two months.
The state government said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Academic Staff Union of Tertiary Institutions of Benue State on implementation of the approved 25/35 salary structure for academic staff.
Under the agreement, the government committed to full implementation of the salary structure and payment of outstanding arrears owed to affected lecturers.
The deal, however, does not by itself end the strike.
ASUTIBS Chairman Ate Agera said the agreement would be taken to the union’s congress for consideration, with a view to calling off the industrial action.
Government officials and union representatives also appealed for academic activities to resume across the affected institutions.
Students had threatened September 25 protest
The agreement followed a threat by the National Association of Nigerian Students to mobilise for a demonstration in Makurdi on Friday, September 25, if the dispute remained unresolved and students were not returned to classrooms.
NANS said students in the affected institutions had been out of school for more than two months.
The institutions it identified included Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo; Akperan Orshi Polytechnic, Yandev; Akawe Torkula Polytechnic, Makurdi; Benue State College of Education, Oju; and the College of Education, Katsina-Ala.
The students’ body demanded that the government resolve the dispute with the academic unions and restore normal academic activities.
There was no confirmed update in the sources reviewed establishing that the planned September 25 protest had begun or had been formally cancelled following the agreement.
Agreement now faces implementation test
The immediate question is whether the union’s congress will accept the agreement and formally end the strike.
Even then, implementation will determine how quickly students return to classrooms.
The government’s statement commits the state to the new salary structure and outstanding arrears but does not provide a detailed public payment timetable or confirmed reopening dates for the affected institutions.
Students are therefore waiting for the next concrete steps: a formal union decision, reopening instructions from their institutions and the resumption of academic activities.
After more than two months of disruption, the agreement marks movement in the dispute. Whether it ends the shutdown will depend on what happens next.
