"Dear Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, this is another opportunity for you to lead with compassion. The new pact is meant to be reviewed in three years; more than three months have passed, and the ministry of tertiary education has not done anything despite the submission of the financial implications by the three chapters of ASUU in Lagos State-owned universities."
At exactly 7:10 am on the 103rd day of 2026, Dr Lola Kosoko, a 46-year-old soil scientist with 18 years at a Lagos State public university and over 38 peer-reviewed publications, arrived at the Oshodi BRT terminal. The absence of BRT buses was less daunting than the crowd, which kept swelling. Waiting endlessly for buses that never arrived wasn’t an option if she was to make her 8:00 am lecture. Meanwhile, Uber or inDrive was simply out of reach. So, she hopped into a danfo- Lagos’s yellow-painted, black-striped ‘moving menace’. Around 7:42 am, just after crossing the Mile 12 overhead bridge, the bus was stopped by the Lagos State task force for driving in the BRT lane.
Predictably, this was a familiar nightmare to Dr Kosoko. She has learnt to navigate the methods of Lagos maladies. She works hard to shape future leaders at the expense of reasonable comfort; this is the portrait of a typical Lagos State lecturer. Her salary, after the recent ‘salary harmonisation’ that paradoxically impacted her earnings, barely covers her transport, food, accommodation, and internet access for research. Several times, she received job offers from different universities outside Nigeria, with better pay, smaller classes, less work, and research grants. She is passionate about serving her country, but no longer enthusiastic about her current job. Dr Lola Kosoko is not just a statistic- she’s Lagos, quietly quitting. And Lagos, it seems, cannot afford to lose her.
For over 16 years, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) have been at loggerheads over the welfare of Nigerian university teachers and the provision of necessary infrastructure for the training of employable youths. Successive governments have played ping-pong with the demands until a new agreement was reached on 23rd December 2025, and the document was signed on 14th January 2026. Key provisions of the agreement include a 40% salary increase, Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), improved pension, university autonomy, and others. Notably, however, while federal universities are already benefiting from the new agreement, state universities seem to be operating on discordant terms.
To imagine Lagos State as Nigeria's economic capital, with an internally generated revenue of over ₦1.26 trillion in 2024 according to the National Bureau of Statistics, a Federation Accounts Allocation Committee allocation of ₦55.83 billion as at January 2026, and a contribution estimated at 22%–30% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, yet not being among the first to implement the newly signed agreement in its public universities calls for concern. The academic staff of Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), and Lagos State University of Education (LASUED) are unlikely to exceed 3,000- an indication that the implementation of the new agreement may not have any significant effect on the state’s coffers.
Meanwhile, the realities of Lagos, such as the high cost of living, transportation, housing, erratic power supply, and other excruciating factors, make the government’s silence more painful for lecturers. The Lagos State is financially buoyant and structurally capable of paying its lecturers above others in Nigeria, but the political will is lacking. The human cost of delay in the implementation of the ASUU renegotiated agreement for Lagos State public universities is significant and deeply concerning. In academia, quiet quitting is more dangerous than brain drain. While brain drain refers to the exodus of experienced academics to private universities, foreign institutions, or other professions, quiet quitting, more insidious in nature, promotes minimal effort at work, zero dedication, disgruntled individuals, the absence of passion and innovation, tactical withdrawal, and disengagement rather than exit.
The effects of quiet quitting on students, service delivery, research output, university rankings, and the future of the country cannot be quantified. It is instructive to note that a quick and total implementation of the new agreement could alleviate the hardship of the staff who were affected by the ‘salary harmonisation’, and rekindle the morale of others. Nothing mirrors the hurtful hearts of the people society calls “professors” like their financial insecurity, which is why most of them retreat to quiet quitting while still in active service.
Dear Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, this is another opportunity for you to lead with compassion. The new pact is meant to be reviewed in three years; more than three months have passed, and the ministry of tertiary education has not done anything despite the submission of the financial implications by the three chapters of ASUU in Lagos State-owned universities. Your action on this matter at this critical period is not merely an obligation, but a legacy. Lagos has always been ahead of others in every developmental stride; this should not be an exception. This is another chance to redefine a generation of Lagos academics and students. This is the governor’s moment on a critical issue affecting Lagos’ human capital development. Mr Governor, as usual, lead by example, as other state governors are watching. It should be noted that the cost of not acting swiftly will surely lead to accumulating arrears that may become politically and financially harder to clear.
What Are We Asking? Immediate domestication of the renegotiated ASUU agreement for Lagos State-owned universities, payment of the four months' arrears (January-April 2026) without further delay, establishment of a triennial review framework in line with the federal model, and regular structured dialogue between the Lagos State Government and ASUU state chapters. Mr Governor, sir, you may wish to know that there are hundreds of Dr Kosokos in Lagos-owned universities. Their pay and working conditions have reduced them to ‘plug-and-play’ instructors. They care less if the system works, because their passions have taken a walk, not because they don’t love their jobs, but because they cannot be expected to live to work. Mr Governor, there is a strong belief in your leadership; you represent both pride and possibility. Great cities are built by educated people. A Lagos that invests in its university lecturers invests in its own future. We are passionate about our jobs, we love our students, we are proud of Lagos State- and a stitch in time saves nine.
Steven Anu’ Adesemoye, PhD, a narrative and development communicator, writes from Lagos
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