The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that Nigeria’s public universities could face another nationwide strike if governments fail to resolve outstanding salary arrears, deductions and key provisions of the 2025 agreement with lecturers.
The union said it was prepared to reactivate industrial action if there was no meaningful progress, although it stopped short of declaring an immediate nationwide strike.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of ASUU’s National Executive Council held on September 5 at the union’s secretariat at the University of Abuja.
At the centre of the dispute are the uneven implementation of the December 2025 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU, outstanding salaries owed to lecturers, unremitted deductions and concerns over the autonomy and funding of universities.
ASUU President Christopher Piwuna said lecturers had continued to face uncertainty over their monthly pay and warned that the union would not accept responsibility for disruptions to the academic calendar if the government failed to act.
ASUU says salary arrears remain a major flashpoint
One of the union’s most contentious demands is the payment of salary withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
ASUU said lecturers had seven-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the period, of which four months had been paid by the current administration of President Bola Tinubu.
That leaves about three-and-a-half months outstanding, according to the union.
ASUU said the delay had become particularly damaging because the purchasing power of the unpaid salaries has fallen sharply since 2022, leaving affected academics under continued financial pressure.
The union also argued that lecturers had continued performing their duties despite the prolonged dispute and that the outstanding payments should therefore be released without further delay.
Third-party deductions add to the dispute
The disagreement extends beyond basic salaries.
ASUU said billions of naira in pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues taken from lecturers’ salaries had not been properly remitted for months.
The union said discussions with government had produced only limited progress on the issue.
It warned that continued delays could further deepen tensions between lecturers and university authorities.
2025 agreement remains only partly implemented
ASUU also criticised what it described as the inconsistent implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement across federal and state universities.
Some states have begun implementing elements of the agreement, while others are yet to do so.
The union specifically acknowledged progress in states including Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno.
It said governments in Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa had also indicated that implementation would begin in September or October.
But ASUU maintained that the uneven pace of implementation was creating fresh industrial tensions across the university system.
Several universities already facing strike action
The national warning comes against a backdrop of industrial disputes involving individual university branches.
ASUU chapters at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, and Plateau State University have embarked on indefinite strikes over unresolved demands, including issues linked to salary arrears and implementation of the 2025 agreement.
At Sule Lamido University in Kafin Hausa, the union’s branch has announced a two-week warning strike beginning September 15 over outstanding issues with the Jigawa State Government.
The branch has warned that the action could become a total and indefinite strike if the dispute is not resolved.
The growing number of local disputes raises the possibility that separate university-level conflicts could eventually converge into a wider national confrontation.
Government has begun implementing parts of the agreement
The Federal Government has taken steps on at least one major component of the agreement.
On September 9, the government announced that funds had been released for payment of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance to academic staff in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for January through August 2026.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa said the payment was part of the government’s implementation of the 2025 agreement with ASUU.
The union, however, said several other elements of the agreement remained unresolved.
For ASUU, the issue is therefore broader than a single outstanding payment. It involves the overall conditions under which university lecturers are employed, paid and represented.
ASUU says strike warning is not yet a declaration
ASUU stressed that its latest statement should not be interpreted as an immediate declaration of a nationwide strike.
Instead, the union is warning that its previously suspended industrial action could be revived if the government fails to make satisfactory progress.
The union said it remained willing to negotiate with both federal and state governments but maintained that the welfare of university lecturers could not be separated from the stability of Nigeria’s public university system.
ASUU has also appealed to students, parents, labour leaders, the media and other Nigerians to put pressure on the authorities before the dispute escalates.
The immediate test for the government will be whether progress on outstanding salaries, third-party deductions and the 2025 agreement is sufficient to prevent the growing university-level disputes from developing into another nationwide shutdown of academic activities.
