Since Prof Chris G Piwuna got elected as ASUU President, I tried to stay low on the feat. I had thought that comrades don't need a trumpet to blow their advancement.
I discovered that a lot would be missed if I continued in that illusion. But knowing that the Piwuna family is made up many labour combatants whose contributions to labour struggles, cannot be taken for granted.
History of family labour activism
Consider these, if you are just reading the details here: Barr Sam Piwuna, Zachariah Piwuna and Christopher Piwuna; without recourse to providing proofs, are masters of the labour struggle.
Barr Sam Piwuna was National President of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU), Zachariah Piwuna as a staff of the ITF, became Vice Chairman, Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Training Professionals.
It is on record that before his retirement as a director at the Industrial Training Fund, Zachariah held sway as chairman of Plateau indigenes in the organisation. That availed him the opportunity to organise his compatriots as a vibrant voice for the furtherance of the Fund's goals and their interests.
Chris Piwuna's entrance into ASUU's political landscape was deeply accentuated by the desire to make things work for the better of those engaged in professional union activities in various sectors of Nigeria's economy.
The journey of Prof Chris Piwuna, Dean of Students' Affairs, University of Jos began during his days in students' union activism. As it is the case today, he has since transmuted into higher realm; representing ASUU at the highest level.
ASUU, strikes and other challenges
At the point of Piwuna's election as ASUU President on May 12, 2025 in Benin, a commentator had described him thus: He is “much more progressive, but very disciplined, exposed, and a comrade in its true sense.”
It is on record that he defeated Adamu Babayo, a professor from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi State, Northeast Nigeria, to emerge as ASUU’s President in an election held during the union’s 23rd National Delegates Congress.
At a public lecture in 2021, Jideofor Adibe, a Prof of International Relations jokingly said after the emergence of former ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osadeke; "should be ready for a strike because, almost all ASUU Presidents declare strike after their emergence to show that they are comrades".
Everyone knows that Prof Piwuna is a comrade, and to be fair to him, he has not stopped following the old path of the 'tradition'.
In his fourth month as the fourteenth ASUU President, a strike was declared on account of what his colleagues from Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie; Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge; Prof Biodun Ogunyemi; and Prof Emmanuel Osodeke have, over the years deligently fought for.
It is likely that the last of the strike by ASUU has not been heard of yet. Given government's attitude to the resolution process it is possible to expect university campuses to be under lock and key.
Almost fifty years since ASUU came on board, it experienced some of the longest strikes in the history of labour movement in Nigeria. The struggle to get their demands met have been a recurring decimal.
If one computes the number of days its members have gone on strike, a child would have been admitted into a four year degree programme and completed it. In one of the strikes, campuses remained under lock and key for 8 months.
There are certain prevailing issues that have remained unresolved. Their reoccurrence, are a challenge to the ASUU President and his colleagues in the struggle.
Before November 21, 2025 if the resumption of another strike is to be avoided, these demands must be met: Withheld salaries, wage award and promotion arrears, revitalization of universities, inadequate funding for university revitalization, 2009 agreement, tertiary Institutions staff support fund (TISSF), victimization of members as well as pension and retirement benefits.
What NMA wants to contribute
Have you met a consultant psychiatrist called Prof Chris Piwuna? And even more on his work table? But how as the President of ASUU for the first time from the ranks of the NMA?
More for the feat achieved by the new president, Nigerian Medical Association, Plateau and some friends organised an Educational Colloquium in Jos on October 31, 2025 to honour him.
With a theme: 'The role of professional associations in shaping and strengthening the education system in Nigeria' cannot have come at a better time.
For an educational meeting which drew from the ranks of academics, former and serving Vice Chancellors of the University of Jos, Prof Tanko Ishaya, Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, Prof Bala Audu and that of Oturkpo, Prof Innocent Ujah; with legions of members of Nigerian Medical Association, who would have doubted the essence of the colloquium?
Professionals have always had a a deeper role in changing the narrative of education, no wonder, Profs Nenfort Gomwalk and Monday Mwangvwat agree that TETFund came into being as a result of the struggle of ASUU.
It is possible to have a creative government which can prioritise education, and will be able to deal with the current challenges in the sector; thus, ASUU won't spend 16 years fighting over an agreement that would have long come into operation.
To ensure that ASUU can do it, Prof Tanko Ishaya of the University of Jos and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Oturkpo, Prof Innocent Ujah are both aware that given the fighting power of ASUU's new Sheriff, it is possible to succeed in a sector whose challenges keep pilling up.
A path to stick to
Keynote speaker, 86 year old Comrade Omotoye Olorode, whom Chris Piwuna described as not trendy, but a fire brand activist is of the view that the journey would have been productive had some players in the sector not behaved like establishment men.
Thus, over the years, the professional unions' spirit of contributing its quota can give them a united voice so that government will not have a choice than to take them seriously.
By and large, it is the responsibility of professional associations' members that are opportune to be where policies are made to advocate for better improvement in the quality of life of their members and their working environment.
Through these kind of meetings, professional associations can pull their ideas together, which are able to determine the manner of interventions needed to move the industry forward.
As ASUU President, he knows that apart from the responsibility of the office, it is more of a challenge to be able to do more through a radical approach by not departing from the path handed over to him by former leaders; then government can take the Association serious.
If he goes by the approaches needed to make the impact needed; his wife, Tinuade and children Aarzar, Lapshak and Muchin'a and family members will be happy the many lonely nights he shall be absent from home, would not be in vain.
But more importantly, his compatriots would be the happiest that they made the right choice.
