The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike if the Federal Government and state governments fail to urgently address outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.
The union said it could reactivate the strike “without any further notice” over the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, payment of the remaining 3.5 months of withheld salaries and the non-remittance of billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries.
ASUU’s position was contained in a statement issued to our correspondent in the early hours of Friday by its President, Christopher Piwuna, following an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council held at the University of Abuja.
The union said the December 2025 agreement, which followed more than eight years of negotiations and struggles, had yet to be fully implemented by the Federal Government and several state governments.
“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,” the union warned.
ASUU commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, as well as the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for commencing implementation of the agreement.
It said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had also pledged to begin implementation in September or October.
The union, however, warned other state governments to act promptly to prevent their universities from being plunged into an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions.”
On withheld salaries, ASUU acknowledged that the Tinubu administration had paid four of the 7.5 months withheld during the previous administration but demanded the immediate payment of the outstanding 3.5 months.
“We have consistently acknowledged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for paying four (4) out of the withheld salaries. However, leaving out the unpaid balance does not give his government the full credit of a labour-friendly administration,” the union said.
ASUU also alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues amounting to billions of naira had remained unremitted for several months.
According to the union, the combination of unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and the incomplete implementation of the 2025 agreement is threatening industrial peace across Nigeria’s public universities.
“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,” it stated.
The union urged the Federal Government and state governments to take immediate action, stressing that it would not accept responsibility if the suspended strike was reactivated.
“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,” the union said.
