Abuja: The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike over unpaid salaries and poor implementation of the 2025 agreement. ASUU president, Christopher Piwuna, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday in Abuja, after the union’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Piwuna stated that the December 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement, achieved after more than eight years of struggle, had been poorly implemented by the Federal Government and several state governments. He emphasized that this situation has left lecturers uncertain about their salaries and entitlements, warning that failure to address the issues could trigger another nationwide industrial action.
Piwuna asserted that unless immediate and concrete steps are taken to fully and comprehensively address issues concerning the welfare and well-being of Nigerian academics, ASUU-NEC would not accept any blame. He warned that the union could call out its members on a nationwide strike action within the shortest time possible if the government failed to satisfactorily address the outstanding issues.
He highlighted that three-and-half months out of the seven-and-half months’ salaries withheld by the Buhari administration remained unpaid, despite the payment of four months by President Bola Tinubu. Piwuna expressed regret that nothing has changed regarding the three-and-half months’ salaries left out since the last public address, noting that the unpaid salaries have caused severe financial and psychological hardship for lecturers, whose purchasing power has declined significantly since the salaries were earned.
Piwuna also raised concerns over billions of naira deducted from lecturers’ salaries for pensions, cooperative societies, and ASUU check-off dues but allegedly not remitted for several months. He stated that ASUU-NEC is fully prepared to call out its members if nothing concrete is done to address this lingering problem without further delay.
The ASUU president commended Abia Gov. Alex Otti and other governors implementing the 2025 agreement, urging states yet to comply to act promptly to prevent industrial crises. He criticized Osun Gov. Ademola Adeleke over the two-year tenure extension granted to Osun State University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Clement Adebooye, describing it as contrary to university law. Piwuna expressed concern that the action could undermine university autonomy and revive unhealthy practices associated with tenure extensions, urging Adeleke to reconsider the decision.
Piwuna also supported Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero’s call for an immediate review of the National Minimum Wage to cushion the impact of worsening economic hardship. He urged students, parents, labour leaders, media practitioners, and other Nigerians to intervene in the brewing crisis before it escalated into another disruption of university education. Piwuna concluded by stating that ASUU cannot guarantee an uninterrupted academic calendar at the expense of the existential needs of its members and that the union remained open to dialogue with the Federal Government and state governments. However, he warned that failure to achieve satisfactory progress could force the union to resume the suspended strike.