ASUU Threatens Nationwide Strike, Gives Strong Reasons

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned that public universities across Nigeria face an imminent nationwide strike unless federal and state authorities urgently address outstanding lecturer welfare, withheld salaries, and agreement implementation deadlocks.

Issued following an emergency National Executive Council meeting held at the union’s University of Abuja secretariat on September 5, 2026, the resolution highlights the non-implementation of the December 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement, three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries from the previous administration, unremitted third-party deductions, and eroding university autonomy as primary drivers of the dispute.

Addressing newsmen on the NEC decisions, ASUU President Christopher Piwuna cautioned that the union will not accept responsibility for any disruption to the academic calendar if government bodies fail to resolve the crisis swiftly.

Reading from the official declaration, Piwuna stated, “Except for recent attempts by the Federal Ministry of Education to defray outstanding salaries for Federal Universities of Agriculture, there have been no concerted efforts to address our concerns and worries on a sustainable basis.”

Emphasizing the strain on university workers, he added, “Each month, lecturers have been forced to be at daggers drawn with their vice-chancellors over uncertainty of when and what part of their salaries would be paid. This time, the union’s message to the nation is clear: Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken to FULLY and COMPREHENSIVELY address issues bordering the welfare and well-being of Nigerian academics, ASUU-NEC will not accept any blame for calling out its members on a nationwide strike action within the shortest time possible.”

The national body observed that industrial tension is already escalating across state campuses, noting that chapters at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, and Plateau State University have initiated indefinite strikes, while the Sule Lamido University chapter in Kafin Hausa announced a two-week warning strike commencing September 15.

While commending state governments in Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina, and Borno for commencing implementation of the 2025 agreement, ASUU noted that three-and-a-half months of the seven-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the Buhari administration remain unpaid, with the real value of the income degraded by inflation.

Calling for immediate financial restitution, Piwuna remarked, “It will do this government a lot of good to restore the full confidence of lecturers in the nation-building project, for which Nigerian scholars are critical pillars and pivots. We state for the umpteenth time that the lecturers have done the work for which they are being punished.”

Highlighting the toll on academic staff, he added, “They did it at huge cost to their physical and psycho-social well-being. Some lost their lives in the process, and many are now managing life-threatening ailments. For healing and restoration in the Nigerian University System (NUS), we think the withheld salaries of lecturers should be released without further delay. As for us in ASUU, we shall not give up until our cries get an empathetic attention in the appropriate quarters.”

The warning comes despite Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announcing on September 9 that the Federal Government released funds to cover the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance for academic staff in federal tertiary institutions for January to August 2026, a move ASUU described as insufficient to resolve core structural demands.

Concluding the briefing, Piwuna urged public intervention before total shutdown occurs, declaring, “In no mistaken terms, ASUU posits that the non- or haphazard implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement by federal and state governments is a recipe for industrial crisis in Nigeria’s public universities.”

Reiterating the union’s stance, he stated, “In the same vein, withholding the three-and-a-half months’ salaries and third-party deductions by the government is an ill wind for lasting peace on our campuses. We call on students, parents, media practitioners, labour leaders and other patriotic Nigerians to come into the brewing crisis before it gets out of hand. ASUU can not guarantee an uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of our members. We shall not watch helplessly while red-tapism incrementally frustrates and destroys what is left of the academic profession and universities in Nigeria.”