ASUU threatens nationwide strike over unpaid salaries, agreement implementation

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened a nationwide strike if the Nigerian government fails to address the outstanding issues affecting universities urgently.

ASUU president, Christopher Piwuna, a professor, disclosed this in a statement issued after an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) on Thursday.

The union said its decision was prompted by the government’s failure to fully implement the December 2025 agreement reached after years of negotiations.

The 2025 agreement followed prolonged disputes between ASUU and successive governments over the funding and conditions of service in Nigerian public universities.

The union said the non-implementation or “haphazard implementation” of the 2025 agreement, combined with the outstanding salaries and unremitted deductions, could trigger another industrial crisis in Nigeria’s public universities.

The union said it may activate the suspended strike “without any further notice” if there is no satisfactory response to its demands.

“ASUU cannot guarantee an uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of our members,” the union said.

“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.”

ASUU’s grievances

According to Mr Piwuna, the union remains concerned about the non-implementation of the agreement, the withholding of lecturers’ outstanding salaries, unremitted third-party deductions, and what it described as violations of university laws and autonomy.

He said that apart from recent attempts by the Federal Ministry of Education to pay outstanding salaries to lecturers in federal universities of agriculture, there had been no “concerted efforts” to address the union’s concerns on a sustainable basis.

“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,” Mr Piwuna said.

The union said lecturers continued to face uncertainty over their monthly salaries, with some allegedly unsure of when or what portion of their salaries would be paid.

ASUU also renewed its demand for payment of the remaining three-and-a-half months’ salaries withheld from lecturers in 2022 during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Buhari government withheld seven-and-a-half months’ salaries during the 2022 industrial dispute, but the administration of President Bola Tinubu has since paid four months’ salaries.

Third-party deductions

Another major concern raised by the union was the alleged failure to remit deductions made from lecturers’ salaries.

ASUU said deductions for pension contributions, staff cooperative societies and union check-off dues had not been appropriately remitted for several months.

The union said the deductions run into billions of naira and accused the government of failing to resolve the matter despite previous engagements.

ASUU has historically opposed the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which it says does not adequately accommodate the peculiarities of university employment.

The union said it was prepared to “call out” its members if the issue of third-party deductions was not addressed.

State universities

ASUU also raised concerns about the implementation of the December 2025 agreement in state-owned universities.

The union commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, for adopting the agreement and apologising to ASUU over delays attributed to bureaucratic bottlenecks.

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It also said implementation had commenced in Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno states.

According to ASUU, Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had pledged to begin implementation in September or October.

The union, however, warned that state governments that had not started implementing the agreement could plunge their universities into an industrial crisis.

It said the authorities of the affected universities had been notified that strike action would commence at their institutions, with the backing of the union’s national leadership, unless satisfactory progress were made.