The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to shut down public universities again if the Federal Government and state governments fail to resolve outstanding issues affecting lecturers.
The union warned that it could reactivate its suspended nationwide strike without further notice, citing the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, payment of the remaining 3.5 months of withheld salaries and failure to remit billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ earnings.
The warning followed an emergency meeting of ASUU’s National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.
In a statement issued by the union’s President, Christopher Piwuna, ASUU said the December 2025 agreement was reached after more than eight years of negotiations but remained only partially implemented by the Federal Government and several states.
The union said it would not accept responsibility for another university shutdown if governments failed to urgently address issues affecting lecturers’ welfare.
ASUU commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, as well as the governments of Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno for beginning to implement the agreement.
It added that Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa had promised to begin implementation between September and October.
However, the union warned other states that failure to act could push their universities into a major industrial crisis.
3.5 Months Salary Still Unpaid
ASUU also renewed its demand for the payment of the remaining 3.5 months out of the 7.5 months’ salaries withheld during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The union acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had released four months’ salaries but insisted that the outstanding balance must also be paid.
ASUU argued that leaving the balance unpaid undermined the Federal Government’s claim of being friendly to labour.
The union further alleged that billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries for pension contributions, cooperative schemes and union dues had not been remitted for several months.
According to ASUU, the unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and incomplete implementation of the 2025 agreement were combining to threaten industrial peace across Nigeria’s public universities.
The union therefore gave the Federal Government and state governments a fresh warning to act quickly, stressing that it could resume the suspended strike at short notice if the outstanding issues remained unresolved.
