When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, he rode on the promise of a Renewed Hope Agenda. Nigerians were assured of a break from the old cycles of neglect, insincerity and policy failures that had left the nation generally battered. Yet, more than two years later, hope is fast slipping into despair as this administration stumbles on almost every front.
The government’s management of education is a glaring example. The memory of the 2022 Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, which paralysed Nigerian universities for eight excruciating months, remains fresh. That strike, which remains one of the longest in Nigeria’s history, threw millions of students into uncertainty, shut down laboratories and libraries, derailed research and dealt a devastating blow to the nation’s global reputation in higher education. Parents and guardians endured psychological and financial torment, while students lost precious time that no government policy can ever restore.
The underlying issues (poor funding, unfulfilled agreements, unpaid allowances, proliferation of poorly resourced universities, decaying infrastructure and the plight of lecturers), largely remain unresolved. It must be pointed out that the Buhari government never solved the crisis. It merely suspended it with court orders and half-hearted concessions. Which is why, today, under Tinubu’s watch, ASUU’s patience is again wearing thin. The promise he made during his 2023 campaign that strikes would never again cripple Nigerian universities is already on trial.
What makes the current situation worse is the government’s outright dishonesty. When reports surfaced that an agreement had been reached with ASUU, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, swiftly denied it, dismissing the claims as false. But within days, faced with mounting evidence, the minister executed an embarrassing u-turn and admitted that, indeed, an agreement had been signed.
This blatant duplicity did not escape ASUU’s attention. Its President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke Piwuna, lambasted the government for playing games with the future of students, warning that such insincerity could only push the universities back to the brink of another devastating shutdown.
Once again, this episode exposes the Tinubu administration’s troubling pattern of breaking its word. From promises of fuel subsidy reforms that would cushion the poor but instead unleashed hardship, to assurances of naira stability that quickly collapsed into currency freefall, Nigerians have been fed a diet of rhetoric without results. The same insincerity now threatens to return the educational sector to chaos.
The lesson from the 2022 strike must not be forgotten. It showed us the cost of government neglect: disrupted academic calendars, disillusioned lecturers, wasted years for students and a generation pushed to the brink of hopelessness. If Tinubu repeats the mistakes of the Buhari era, he will condemn yet another generation of Nigerian youth to the same fate.
Therefore, the President must move beyond platitudes and act decisively. Signed agreements must be honoured, revitalisation funds released, arrears paid and pensions fixed. Most importantly, universities must receive genuine investment so that Nigerian students can compete globally. Anything less is not just a broken promise; it is a betrayal of the nation’s future.
Tinubu campaigned on renewed hope. But if he continues on this path, Nigerians will remember his era as one of renewed hopelessness. History has already recorded the shame of the 2022 ASUU strike. To allow it to repeat under this government would not just be careless but unforgivable.