“No Pay, No Work”: UNIZIK Lecturers Draw the Line as August Salaries Remain Unpaid

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch, has activated its ‘no pay, no work’ policy, commencing an indefinite strike over the non-payment of complete August 2026 salaries to its members. The union said the university had failed to pay complete salaries for August, making it more than three times that members have had this “ugly and frustrating experience”.

A Familiar Crisis, A Familiar Response

The crisis is depressingly familiar: university lecturers go months without pay, they withdraw their services, students are sent home, and the cycle of disruption continues.

At Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) branch has activated its ‘no pay, no work’ policy, commencing an indefinite strike over the non-payment of complete August 2026 salaries to its members.

The union said the university had failed to pay complete salaries for August, making it more than three times that members have had this “ugly and frustrating experience”.

The Trigger

At its congress on Monday, September 7, 2026, ASUU-NAU resolved to withdraw its services in compliance with the standing resolution of the ASUU National Executive Council on non-payment of salaries.

According to the ASUU-NEC standing resolution, all branches of the union are empowered to withdraw their services when salaries are not paid after the 3rd day of the new month.

“Today is 7th September 2026 and the University has not paid complete salary for the month of August to our members,” the branch chairman, Innocent Nnubia, and secretary, Osita Nnajiofor, said in a statement.

“This makes it more than three times that our members are having this ugly and frustrating experience. The sole reason for this action is the non-payment of the complete salary of August 2026” .

The Demand

The union implored university authorities, and the Visitor (President Bola Ahmed Tinubu), to urgently address the situation by ensuring the complete payment of August 2026 salary to its members and ensuring that this ugly experience does not repeat itself.

The congress directed that:· All members should immediately withdraw all academic and administrative services·

The withdrawal of services shall subsist until the complete payment of August 2026 salary to all members.

A Lesson for Nigeria

The UNIZIK strike is a symptom of a deeper malaise: a system that fails to pay its workers on time, a government that prioritises other expenditures over education, and a university administration that cannot meet its basic obligations.

The same politicians who preside over this dysfunction will never allow their own children to be taught by unpaid lecturers.

Their families are protected.

For Nigeria, the lesson is clear: a nation that does not pay its teachers cannot educate its children.

The strike is not just about salaries, it is about the future of an entire generation of students who are being denied their education.

The same leaders who celebrate their children’s graduation will never allow their own children to be victims of this crisis.

Pay teachers. Prioritise education. And never forget that the future of Nigeria depends on the quality of its universities.

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