ASUU Threatens to Resume Nationwide Strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it may resume its suspended nationwide strike if the Federal Government and state governments fail to resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.

The warning followed an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), held at the University of Abuja, where members reviewed the level of implementation of agreements reached with the government.

In a statement issued in the early hours of Friday by ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, the union expressed concern over what it described as the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, outstanding salaries owed to lecturers and unpaid deductions from their earnings.

According to the union, the December 2025 agreement was reached after more than eight years of negotiations but remains only partially implemented by the Federal Government and a number of state governments.

ASUU said the government must take urgent and concrete steps to address issues affecting the welfare of university academics, warning that failure to do so could lead to the reactivation of its suspended industrial action without further notice.

The union, however, acknowledged states that have begun implementing the agreement. It specifically commended the governments of Abia, Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for taking steps towards implementation.

It added that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had indicated plans to commence implementation between September and October.

ASUU urged other state governments to act promptly, warning that continued delays could trigger a major industrial crisis across public universities.

On withheld salaries, the union noted that the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had paid four months out of the 7.5 months withheld during the previous administration.

However, ASUU demanded the payment of the remaining 3.5 months, arguing that the outstanding balance should be cleared to demonstrate the government's commitment to workers' welfare.

The union also raised concerns over billions of naira in pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues allegedly deducted from lecturers' salaries but not remitted to the appropriate bodies.

ASUU said the combination of outstanding salaries, unremitted deductions and incomplete implementation of the agreement was putting industrial harmony in the nation's public universities at risk.

The union therefore called on both the Federal Government and state governments to urgently resolve the issues, stressing that it would not accept responsibility should the suspended strike be reactivated.

ASUU said its NEC had resolved that the union could return to nationwide industrial action at short notice if the outstanding concerns were not addressed speedily.