The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to reactivate its suspended nationwide strike, accusing the Federal Government and several state governments of failing to fully implement the December 2025 agreement reached with the union.
ASUU also demanded the immediate payment of the remaining 3.5 months of salaries withheld from its members, as well as the remittance of billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ earnings for pensions, cooperative contributions and union dues.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.
In a memo obtained on Friday, ASUU president, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, said the union could resume industrial action without further notice if the outstanding issues were not urgently resolved.
According to ASUU, the December 2025 agreement was reached after more than eight years of negotiations and industrial struggles but has only been partially 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, however, acknowledged efforts by some state governments towards implementing the agreement.
It commended Abia State governor, Alex Otti, alongside the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno states for beginning implementation.
The union also said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had indicated plans to commence implementation in September or October.
It nevertheless urged other state governments to move quickly, warning that continued failure to implement the agreement could plunge their universities into what it described as an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions”.
On salary arrears, ASUU said four months out of the 7.5 months withheld under the previous administration had been paid, but maintained that the outstanding 3.5 months must also be released.
The union said it had repeatedly acknowledged President Bola Tinubu for authorising payment of four months but argued that withholding the balance undermined the administration’s claim to being labour-friendly.
“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,” ASUU said.
Beyond salaries, the union raised concerns over deductions from lecturers’ earnings that it said had not been remitted for several months.
ASUU alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and check-off dues running into billions of naira remained outstanding.
It warned that the combination of unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and incomplete implementation of the 2025 agreement was eroding industrial peace in Nigeria’s public 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,” the union stated.
The lecturers’ union therefore called on the federal and state governments to urgently resolve the outstanding matters, 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.
