The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to reactivate its suspended nationwide strike if the Federal Government and state governments fail to urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.
The union said it could resume 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 non-remittance of billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries.
ASUU’s position was contained in a statement issued by its President, Christopher Piwuna, on Friday following an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.
The union said the December 2025 agreement followed more than eight years of negotiations but 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, and 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 quickly to prevent their universities from being plunged into what it described as an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions.”
On withheld salaries, ASUU acknowledged that the administration of President Bola Tinubu had paid four of the 7.5 months withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The union, however, 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,” it said.
ASUU also alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues running into billions of naira had not been remitted for several months.
According to the union, the failure to fully implement the 2025 agreement, pay the outstanding salaries and remit deductions was threatening industrial peace in the nation’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 urgently address the issues, warning 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.
