The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike without further notice if the Federal Government and state governments fail to urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.
The union said the non-implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, payment of the remaining three-and-a-half months of lecturers’ withheld salaries and failure to remit billions of naira in third-party deductions had pushed the nation’s university system towards another industrial crisis.
In a statement signed by its President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, after the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) emergency meeting in Abuja on September 5, ASUU said it could reactivate its suspended strike if concrete steps were not taken to address the issues.
The union warned that its members’ welfare concerns could no longer be ignored, saying it would not accept responsibility if lecturers were forced to embark on another nationwide industrial action.
“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,” Piwuna said.
ASUU said there had been no coordinated effort to sustainably resolve the issues, apart from recent moves by the Federal Ministry of Education to settle outstanding salaries owed lecturers in Federal Universities of Agriculture.
It alleged that lecturers were being subjected to monthly uncertainty over when and how much of their salaries would be paid.
The union also renewed its demand for the payment of three-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
While acknowledging President Bola Tinubu’s payment of four of the seven-and-a-half months withheld, ASUU said the outstanding balance had denied the administration the opportunity to receive full credit as a labour-friendly government.
“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.
The union said the withheld salaries had subjected lecturers to severe financial and psychological difficulties, particularly as the value of the outstanding income had significantly declined since 2022.
According to ASUU, some lecturers suffered serious health consequences, while others reportedly died during the period.
“We state for the umpteenth time that the lecturers have done the work for which they are being punished. They did it at huge cost to their physical and psycho-social well-being. Some lost their lives in the process and many are now managing life-threatening ailments,” the union said.
ASUU therefore demanded the immediate release of the outstanding salaries, insisting that it would continue to press the matter until government addressed it.
The union also raised concerns over the non-remittance of deductions from lecturers’ salaries, including pension contributions, cooperative society deductions and union check-off dues.
It said the deductions, amounting to billions of naira, had allegedly remained unremitted for several months despite repeated engagements with government officials.
ASUU questioned why the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance had been unable to ensure the timely remittance of the funds.
The union suggested that the withholding of the deductions could be linked to its opposition to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which it described as discredited.
On the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement, the union commended governors who had begun implementing the pact, particularly Abia State Governor Alex Otti, whom it said had adopted the agreement and apologised over bureaucratic delays.
It also acknowledged progress in Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno states.
However, the union warned governors who had yet to implement the agreement that their failure to act could trigger serious industrial disputes in their respective state-owned universities.
ASUU also criticised the two-year extension granted the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Prof. Clement Adebooye, by the university’s Visitor, Governor Ademola Adeleke.
It argued that the extension, which would keep Adebooye in office until January 2029 instead of January 2027, violated the UNIOSUN Law providing for a single five-year tenure for the vice-chancellor.
The union condemned the amendment of the law to accommodate the extension, describing it as a dangerous precedent that could undermine reforms introduced by the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2012.
It said it could challenge the decision if the matter was not reconsidered.
On the wider economic situation, ASUU criticised what it described as excessive political focus on the 2027 general elections at the expense of governance and workers’ welfare.
The union said Nigerians continued to face declining purchasing power despite claims of macroeconomic growth, while access to healthcare, education, electricity, potable water, roads and other essential services remained inadequate.
ASUU described the situation as “a massification of poverty” and warned against what it called “growth without development.”
The union also backed the call by Nigeria Labour Congress President, Joe Ajaero, for an immediate review of the national minimum wage.
It proposed indexing the minimum wage to inflation to protect workers from the effects of rising living costs and ensure predictable wage adjustments.
ASUU warned that the non-implementation or “haphazard implementation” of the 2025 agreement, combined with unpaid salaries and unremitted deductions, could trigger another industrial crisis in public universities.
It appealed to students, parents, labour leaders, media practitioners and other Nigerians to intervene before the situation worsened.
“ASUU cannot guarantee uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of our members,” the union said.
It maintained that it remained open to dialogue with the Federal Government and state governments but warned that Nigerians should not blame the union if it was forced to resume its suspended strike over what it described as government’s failure to provide satisfactory responses to its demands.
