The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike unless the Federal Government and state governments urgently resolve outstanding issues over lecturers’ salaries, deductions and the implementation of the December 2025 agreement.
The union said it could reactivate the strike without further notice, citing the failure of governments to fully implement the agreement, pay the remaining 3.5 months of lecturers’ withheld salaries and remit billions of naira deducted from their earnings.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of ASUU’s National Executive Council at the University of Abuja. In a statement issued by Christopher Piwuna, its president, the union said the December 2025 agreement was reached after more than eight years of negotiations but remained only partially implemented by the Federal Government and several state governments.
‘Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken 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 said.
The renewed threat raises the prospect of another disruption to academic activities in Nigeria’s public universities, at a time when the sector is still grappling with prolonged industrial disputes and concerns over the welfare and retention of academic staff.
ASUU acknowledged that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had paid four of the 7.5 months of salaries withheld from lecturers during the previous administration but insisted that the outstanding 3.5 months must now be paid.
‘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.
Beyond the withheld salaries, the union alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues running into billions of naira had remained unremitted for several months.
According to ASUU, the accumulation of unpaid salaries and unremitted deductions, alongside what it described as the poor implementation of the 2025 agreement, is threatening industrial peace across the university system.
‘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, however, acknowledged states that have begun implementing the agreement. It commended Governor Alex Otti of Abia state and the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for commencing implementation.
ASUU said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had also pledged to begin implementation in September or October.
It warned that other states risked pushing their universities into what it described as an ‘industrial crisis of monumental proportions’ if they failed to act.
The union called on the Federal Government and state governments to address the outstanding issues promptly, 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.