The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that Nigeria’s public universities could face another nationwide strike if the Federal and state governments fail to urgently resolve outstanding issues concerning lecturers’ salaries, welfare and the implementation of the December 2025 agreement.
The warning followed an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the union’s National Secretariat at the University of Abuja on September 5, 2026.
ASUU said the major issues at the centre of the dispute include the non-implementation or inconsistent implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries from the previous administration, unremitted third-party deductions and concerns surrounding university autonomy.
ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, said the union would not accept responsibility for any disruption of academic activities if the outstanding matters were not resolved.
“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,” the union said.
Piwuna said lecturers were being forced to repeatedly engage their vice-chancellors over uncertainty surrounding when and how much of their salaries would be paid.
“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,” he stated.
The union said the unresolved matters were already creating industrial tension across universities, with some state university branches moving towards strike action.
ASUU commended Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno states for commencing implementation of the 2025 agreement.
It also acknowledged commitments by Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states to begin implementation in September or October.
According to the union, the affected universities had been informed that strike action could commence if satisfactory progress was not recorded.
Several ASUU branches have already embarked on industrial action in recent weeks.
ASUU chapters at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, and Plateau State University declared indefinite strikes over unresolved demands, including the implementation of the 2025 agreement and payment of outstanding arrears.
At Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, the ASUU branch announced a two-week warning strike beginning September 15 over unresolved issues with the Jigawa State Government, warning that the action could be extended into a total and indefinite strike.
ASUU also said three-and-a-half months out of the seven-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari remained unpaid.
The union acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had paid four months of the withheld salaries but said the remaining balance continued to cause financial and psychological difficulties for lecturers.
It further stated that the value of the withheld income had declined by more than 50 per cent since 2022.
“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.
“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,” its president stated.
Beyond Withheld Salaries
ASUU said other financial obligations deducted from lecturers’ salaries, including pension contributions, cooperative society deductions and union check-off dues, running into billions of naira, had also not been properly remitted for several months.
The union said discussions with the government over the third-party deductions had produced only limited progress and warned that it could call out its members if the matter remained unresolved.
The warning comes as the Federal Government takes steps to implement some aspects of the 2025 agreement.
On September 9, the government announced that it had released funds for the full payment of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance to academic staff in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education covering January to August 2026.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the payment was being made in line with the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
ASUU, however, maintained that several other key provisions of the agreement remained outstanding.
The union warned that the unresolved issues could force more universities into industrial action and appealed to students, parents, labour leaders, the media and other Nigerians to intervene before the situation escalates.
“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,” its president 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.”
ASUU stressed that it had not immediately declared a nationwide strike, but said its suspended industrial action could be reactivated if the government failed to provide a satisfactory response to its demands.
The union said it remained open to negotiations with both the Federal and state governments but maintained that lecturers’ welfare could not be separated from the stability and effective functioning of Nigeria’s university system.
Source: ASUU
