The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that Nigeria’s public universities could face another nationwide strike unless the federal and state governments urgently address outstanding salary, welfare, and implementation issues affecting university lecturers.
The warning, it said, followed an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the union’s National Secretariat at the University of Abuja on September 5, 2026. The union said that at the centre of the dispute are the non- or haphazard implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries dating from the previous administration, unremitted third-party deductions and concerns over university autonomy.
ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, said the union would not accept responsibility for any disruption of academic activities if the outstanding issues were not resolved. “Except for recent attempts by the Federal Ministry of Education to defray outstanding salaries for Federal Universities of Agriculture, there have been no concerted efforts to address our concerns and worries on a sustainable basis,” said the union. “Each month, lecturers have been forced to be at daggers drawn with their vice-chancellors over uncertainty of when and what part of their salaries would be paid.
This time, the union’s message to the nation is clear: 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,” he stated. The union said the unresolved issues are already creating industrial tensions in universities, with some state university branches moving towards strike action.
ASUU commended states including Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno, where implementation of the 2025 Agreement has commenced. It also noted pledges to begin implementation in Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa in September or October. The union said universities concerned had been notified of the commencement of strike actions unless satisfactory progress was recorded.