The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is sending strong signals that it might drag Nigerian universities back into another period of forced idleness. The union is threatening to resume its suspended nationwide strike if the federal and state governments don't get serious about implementing the December 2025 agreement and clearing outstanding salary debts.
Christopher Piwuna, the President of ASUU, dropped this bombshell in a statement released early Friday after an emergency National Executive Council meeting at the University of Abuja. He said the union could activate the strike "without any further notice" if the issues aren't dealt with swiftly. ASUU has been locked in a struggle over this agreement, which followed over eight years of negotiations, and they feel its implementation has been lacklustre at best.
"Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken to FULLY and COMPREHENSIVELY address issues bordering the welfare and well-being of Nigerian academics, ASUU-NEC won't accept any blame for calling out its members on a nationwide strike action within the shortest time possible," the union warned, making it clear they're ready to pull the plug.
ASUU did give a nod to Abia State Governor Alex Otti, and the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina, and Borno for actually starting to implement the agreement. Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe, and Bayelsa have also promised to get on board by September or October. For the others, ASUU's message is stark: shape up, or your universities will be plunged into an "industrial crisis of monumental proportions."
On the salary front, ASUU acknowledges that the current administration has paid four out of the 7.5 months of salaries that were withheld during the previous administration. ASUU isn't letting the government off the hook for the remaining 3.5 months. They made it clear that leaving that balance unpaid means President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government "doesn't give his government the full credit of a labour-friendly administration."
ASUU is also alleging that billions of naira deducted from lecturers' salaries for pension contributions, cooperative societies, and union dues haven't been remitted by various government bodies for months on end. This combination of unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions, and patchy agreement implementation is, according to ASUU, a direct path to industrial unrest in public universities across the country.
The union is urging all levels of government to act fast. They've drawn a line in the sand, stating clearly that they won't take the blame if the suspended strike has to be reactivated. The lecturers are done with promises and are demanding action, pronto.