Subscribe: Gist E-Paper
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike over unpaid salaries and what it described as poor implementation of the December 2025 agreement with the Federal Government.
ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja after the union’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
Piwuna said the agreement, reached after more than eight years of negotiations and struggles, had not been satisfactorily implemented by the Federal Government and several state governments.
He warned that the continued failure to resolve outstanding issues could force the union to declare another nationwide industrial action.
“Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken to fully and comprehensively address issues bordering on the welfare and well-being of Nigerian academics, ASUU-NEC will not accept any blame,” he said.
According to him, the union could mobilise its members for “a nationwide strike action within the shortest time possible” if the government failed to address the outstanding demands.
Piwuna said three-and-a-half months out of the seven-and-a-half months’ salaries withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari remained unpaid, despite the payment of four months by President Bola Tinubu.
“We note with regrets that nothing has changed about the three-and-half months’ salaries left out of the seven-and-half months withheld by the Buhari Government since we last addressed the public,” he said.
He said the unpaid salaries had subjected lecturers to severe financial and psychological hardship, adding that inflation had significantly eroded the purchasing power of the money owed them.
The ASUU president also raised concerns over billions of naira reportedly deducted from lecturers’ salaries for pensions, cooperative societies and union check-off dues but allegedly not remitted for several months.
Piwuna warned that ASUU was prepared to take industrial action if the alleged deductions and other outstanding welfare issues were not resolved promptly.
He commended Abia State Governor Alex Otti and other governors implementing the 2025 agreement, while urging states yet to comply to act quickly to avert industrial crises.
The ASUU president also criticised Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke over the two-year extension granted to the tenure of the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, Prof. Clement Adebooye.
He described the extension as contrary to university law, warning that such actions could undermine university autonomy and revive practices that the union had consistently opposed.
Piwuna urged Governor Adeleke to reconsider the decision.
He also backed the call by Nigeria Labour Congress President Joe Ajaero for an immediate review of the national minimum wage, saying this would help cushion the impact of the worsening economic hardship on workers.
The ASUU president appealed to students, parents, labour leaders, media practitioners and other stakeholders to intervene in the emerging crisis before it leads to another disruption of academic activities.
“ASUU cannot guarantee uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of our members,” Piwuna said.
He, however, said the union remained open to dialogue with the Federal Government and state governments, stressing that failure to achieve satisfactory progress on its demands could compel ASUU to suspend its current peace and resume nationwide strike action.
