A political support group within the academic community, Progressives in Academics, Pro-Acad, is mobilising about 5,000 professors and senior academics from more than 130 tertiary institutions to the Eagle Square, Abuja, in November 2026 to formally endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term.
The group’s convener, Prof. Bolarinwa Bolaji, disclosed the plan at a pre-declaration briefing in Abuja, where he said the academics would adopt a document titled “Academic Declaration for Continuity and Renewed Hope 2027.”
Prof. Bolarinwa said the document would set out the group’s assessment of the administration, its reading of the government’s record in the education sector, and its resolution to back continuity beyond the 2027 presidential election.
Also Read: Northern lecturers endorse Tinubu for second term
He described the planned gathering as “the largest gathering of academics for a political cause in Nigeria’s democratic history” — a claim that could not be independently verified.
Claims of improved welfare
The convener said the academic community had recorded “steady and unprecedented progress” under Mr Tinubu, arguing that decades of poor remuneration, infrastructural decay and policy inconsistency had been reversed.
“Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that narrative has changed. The salaries and welfare of academic staff have recorded steady growth, with over 100 per cent increase compared to the past, restoring dignity, motivation and productivity to the system,” he said.
He cited the removal of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, the payment of outstanding earned allowances, the operationalisation of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund — which he said has benefited more than 500,000 students — and increased funding for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund as evidence of political will.
“President Tinubu has returned autonomy and respect to the Ivory Tower. This is why progressive academics have resolved to speak with one voice,” Prof. Bolarinwa said. “The Eagle Square Declaration is our political contribution to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is not truncated, but consolidated beyond 2027.”
He said mobilisation was ongoing across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education ahead of the event.
The declaration would follow a similar endorsement in September, when more than 600 senior academics drawn from public universities in Northern Nigeria backed the President’s second-term bid — a move the Peter Obi Media Office condemned at the time as “an early rigging plan.”
Pro-Acad’s gathering is expected to serve as a platform for the group to publicly state its position on the administration’s reforms and to press its case for continuity beyond 2027, with the general election now roughly 15 months away.
Crediblenewsng.com
