The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it may resume its nationwide strike if the Federal Government and state governments fail to urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.
The union said it could withdraw its services again “without any further notice” if key demands, including the full implementation of the agreement reached in December 2025, are not addressed.
ASUU also demanded payment of the remaining 3.5 months of withheld salaries owed to its members, as well as the remittance of billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries.
The warning was contained in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday by ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna.
Piwuna issued the statement after an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), held at the University of Abuja.
The union expressed concern over what it described as delays in resolving the outstanding matters, warning that failure by the government to act urgently could trigger another nationwide industrial action.
ASUU said the December 2025 agreement followed more than eight years of negotiations and struggles but had not been fully implemented 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.
It commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, and the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for commencing implementation of the agreement.
The union said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa had also pledged to commence implementation in September or October, while warning other states to act before their universities were plunged into an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions.”
On withheld salaries, ASUU acknowledged that the Tinubu administration had paid four of the 7.5 months withheld during the Buhari administration but demanded the immediate release of the outstanding 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.
