By Attah Ede
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to embark on another nationwide strike if the Federal and state governments fail to urgently clear all outstanding salaries and address welfare concerns, as well as the implementation of issues affecting university lecturers.
ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, disclosed this at the end of an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the union’s National Secretariat at the University of Abuja.
Prof. Piwuna warned that the union would not accept responsibility for any disruption of academic activities if the outstanding issues were not resolved.
According to the union, at the centre of the dispute are the non-implementation or haphazard implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries dating from the previous administration, unremitted third-party deductions, and concerns over university autonomy.
“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.
“Each month, lecturers have been forced to be at daggers drawn with their vice-chancellors over uncertainty about 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 on 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 unresolved issues are already creating industrial tensions in universities, with some state university branches moving towards strike action. We, however, commend states including Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno, where implementation of the 2025 Agreement has commenced.
“We also acknowledge the pledges made by Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa to commence implementation in September or October.
“Universities concerned had been notified of the commencement of strike actions unless satisfactory progress was recorded.”
There have been a series of industrial disputes in recent weeks.
ASUU chapters at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, and Plateau State University had declared indefinite strikes over unresolved demands, including implementation of the 2025 agreement and payment of arrears.
At Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, the ASUU branch had also announced a two-week warning strike beginning September 15 over unresolved issues with the Jigawa State Government, with a warning that the action could escalate into a total and indefinite strike.
ASUU stated that three-and-a-half months of the seven-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the Buhari administration remain unpaid.
The union acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s government had paid four months but said the outstanding balance continued to impose financial and psychological hardship on lecturers.
It also said the value of the withheld income had fallen 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 psychosocial 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 empathetic attention in the appropriate quarters,” the ASUU president stated.
