In a communiqué issued after its National Executive Council meeting at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, and signed by its president, Professor Christopher Piwuna, ASUU called for its immediate withdrawal from the scheme.

The union insisted that rather than offering loan packages, government should release the three and a half months’ salaries still being withheld from its members. According to ASUU, such payments would have a more direct impact on the welfare of academic staff.

The TISSF was launched last week by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa. It provides interest-free loans of up to ten million naira for academic and non-academic staff of tertiary institutions. Eligibility requires beneficiaries to be members of recognised unions, including ASUU, SSANU and NASU, and to have at least five years left before retirement.

ASUU dismissed the arrangement as exploitative, stressing that it would press ahead with nationwide protests to demand action on long-standing issues. Among its unresolved disputes with the government are the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, improved conditions of service, better funding of universities, respect for autonomy and academic freedom, as well as reforms to laws governing the NUC and JAMB.

The union also disclosed that it is working on a new accountability platform known as the Tertiary Institutions Transparency and Accountability Solution (TITAS). It explained that the system has reached an advanced stage, with several universities already showing interest in adopting it as a replacement for its earlier UTAS platform.