The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday, 11 September, 2026 threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike, accusing the Federal and state governments of failing to fully implement the December 2025 agreement reached with the union fully.
The union also demanded payment of the outstanding 3.5 months of salaries withheld from lecturers and the remittance of billions of naira deducted from their earnings for pensions, cooperative contributions and union dues.
ASUU issued the warning in a memo issued on Thursday, 10 September, 2026 after an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council held at the University of Abuja, with its President, Prof Christopher Piwuna, saying the union could resume industrial action without further notice if the outstanding issues were not urgently addressed.
According to the union, December 2025 agreement, followed more than eight years of negotiations and industrial struggles but has been implemented only partially by the Federal Government and several state governments.
“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 university teachers also commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, as well as the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for beginning implementation of the agreement.
The union also disclosed that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa states had also indicated plans to commence implementation in September or October.
The union, however, urged other state governments to act swiftly to prevent their universities from being plunged into what it described as an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions”.
Speaking on the withheld salaries, ASUU acknowledged the payment of four months out of the 7.5 months withheld under the previous administration, but insisted that the remaining 3.5 months should be released immediately.
“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 further alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and check-off dues running into billions of naira had not been remitted for several months.
It warned that the outstanding payments, unremitted deductions and incomplete implementation of the agreement were undermining industrial peace in public 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,” the union stated.
ASUU called on the Federal and state governments to take immediate steps to resolve the outstanding matters, stressing that it would not accept responsibility should the suspended strike be 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.
