The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that Nigerian public universities could face another nationwide strike unless the Federal Government and state governments urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting lecturers.
The union said it could revive its suspended industrial action “without any further notice” if the authorities failed to address the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, pay the remaining 3.5 months of withheld salaries and remit billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ earnings.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of ASUU’s National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.
In a statement issued in the early hours of Friday by the union’s President, Christopher Piwuna, ASUU said the December 2025 agreement was reached after more than eight years of negotiations and struggles, but remained only 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, praised Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, as well as the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for beginning the implementation of the agreement.
It added that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had promised to commence implementation in September or October.
The union urged other state governments to act quickly, warning that failure to do so could push their universities into an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions”.
On the issue of withheld salaries, ASUU acknowledged that the Tinubu administration had released four of the 7.5 months of salaries 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 raised concerns over the alleged failure to remit pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues deducted from lecturers’ salaries.
According to the union, the outstanding deductions amounted to billions of naira and had remained unremitted for months.
It said the unresolved issues were increasingly threatening industrial harmony in 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 called on both tiers of government to take immediate steps to resolve the issues, stressing that it would not accept responsibility should the suspended strike be reinstated.
“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.
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