ASUU warns of imminent strike over unpaid salaries, stalled 2025 deal

Nigeria’s public universities face the risk of another nationwide shutdown as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to reactivate its suspended industrial action without further notice.

In a statement titled “Why ASUU May Go on Strike Again,” issued by its President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, the union said an emergency National Executive Council meeting held on September 5, 2026, at the University of Abuja resolved that lecturers could be called out “within the shortest possible time” unless the Federal Government and state governments urgently resolve outstanding issues.

At the heart of the dispute is the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, which followed more than eight years of negotiations. ASUU described the current level of compliance as “non- or haphazard,” warning that it is a recipe for industrial crisis across campuses.

The union highlighted three-and-a-half months of salaries still unpaid out of the seven-and-a-half months withheld under the previous administration. While acknowledging that President Bola Tinubu’s government has released four months of the arrears, ASUU insisted the remaining balance must be paid immediately. It said the unpaid emoluments have subjected lecturers to “enormous financial and psychological discomfort,” noting that the money has lost more than 50 per cent of its value to currency devaluation since 2022.

ASUU also raised alarm over the non-remittance of billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries for pensions, staff cooperative societies and union check-off dues. The union said it is fully prepared to mobilise members if the deductions issue is not resolved without further delay.

On the 2025 agreement, ASUU commended Abia State Governor Alex Otti and the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for commencing implementation. It noted that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa have pledged to begin compliance in September or October 2026. The union, however, warned other governors against allowing their institutions to slide into an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions.”

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Separately, ASUU condemned the two-year tenure extension granted to the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, Prof. Clement Adebooye, by Governor Ademola Adeleke. The union argued that the university’s law provides for a single five-year term and accused the governor of setting a dangerous precedent by hurriedly amending the law to accommodate the extension. It warned that the move could reignite rancour, sycophancy and administrative witch-hunts within the university system.

Beyond campus issues, ASUU criticised the broader economic situation, saying reported macroeconomic growth has not translated into improved living conditions for Nigerians. The union backed the call by Nigeria Labour Congress President Joe Ajaero for an immediate review of the national minimum wage and the indexing of wages to inflation to protect workers’ purchasing power.

ASUU appealed to students, parents, the media, labour leaders and other Nigerians to intervene before the brewing crisis escalates. It stated that it cannot guarantee an uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of its members.

While saying its doors remain open for dialogue, the union was emphatic: “ASUU-NEC resolved to notify all concerned that the union may activate its suspended strike action without any further notice if the critical issues raised in this release are not speedily addressed.”

The development comes amid lingering concerns over funding, autonomy and welfare in Nigeria’s public university system, raising fears of yet another disruption to the academic calendar.