The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned that public universities across Nigeria could face another shutdown if the Federal Government and state governments fail to resolve outstanding issues involving lecturers’ salaries, deductions and the implementation of the 2025 agreement.
ASUU said it may reactivate its suspended strike “without any further notice” if concrete steps are not taken to address the grievances.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council held on September 5, 2026, at its Festus Iyayi National Secretariat Complex, University of Abuja. The position was contained in a statement signed by ASUU National President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, and released to journalists on Friday.
At the centre of the dispute is the payment of three-and-a-half months’ salaries still owed lecturers out of the seven-and-a-half months withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The union said the present administration had paid four months but that the outstanding amount had lost more than 50 per cent of its value since 2022 because of naira devaluation and inflation.
“We state for the umpteenth time that the lecturers have done the work for which they are being punished. They did it at huge cost to their physical and psycho-social well-being,” ASUU said, adding that some lecturers had died while others were managing serious illnesses.
The union also accused governments of failing to remit billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries for pension contributions, cooperative societies and ASUU check-off dues. It described the situation as a double financial loss because members had been denied both access to the funds and potential investment returns.
ASUU said the deductions could be connected to lecturers’ rejection of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System and warned that it was prepared to mobilise members if the matter remained unresolved.
The union further criticised what it called the “non- or haphazard implementation” of the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement. It commended Abia State Governor Alex Otti for adopting the agreement and apologising for delays, while also acknowledging progress in Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno.
It said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa had pledged to begin implementation in September or October, but warned that states yet to comply risked an “industrial crisis of monumental proportions.”
ASUU also criticised Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke over the extension of UNIOSUN Vice-Chancellor Prof. Clement Adegbooye’s tenure from January 2027 to January 2029. The union argued that the governing law provides for a single five-year tenure and said it would challenge the decision if it was not reversed.
Beyond university issues, ASUU rejected government claims of economic progress, citing falling purchasing power and rising living costs. It backed calls for a review of the national minimum wage and advocated linking wages to inflation.
The union urged students, parents and other stakeholders to pressure governments to resolve the disputes, warning that the failure to implement the 2025 agreement and release withheld salaries could trigger another crisis in Nigeria’s public universities.
“ASUU-NEC resolved to notify all concerned that the Union may activate its suspended strike action without any further notice,” it said.
