The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned it may restart its suspended nationwide strike if the federal and state governments do not quickly resolve ongoing issues affecting university lecturers.
The academic union said it could resume the strike “without any further notice” because the December 2025 agreement has not been fully implemented, some lecturers are still owed 3.5 months of withheld salaries, and billions of naira deducted from their pay have not been remitted.
The union made this known in a statement from ASUU President Christopher Piwuna after an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.
ASUU said the December 2025 agreement came after more than eight years of negotiations and challenges, but the Federal Government and several state governments have not fully carried it out.
“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.
The union praised Abia State Governor Alex Otti, along with the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina, and Borno, for beginning to implement the agreement.
The union said that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe, and Bayelsa have also promised to start implementing the agreement in September or October. It warned other states to act soon to avoid a major crisis in their universities.
Regarding withheld salaries, ASUU noted that the Tinubu administration has paid four out of the 7.5 months that were held back during the Buhari administration. However, the union is still calling for the immediate payment of the remaining 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 alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues running into billions of naira had remained unremitted for several months.
The union warned that the combination of unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and poor implementation of the agreement was threatening industrial peace in the universities.
“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.
It urged the Federal Government and state governments to act quickly, insisting 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.