The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened a fresh nationwide strike over the non-payment of outstanding salaries and the failure of the Federal Government to fully implement agreements reached with the union.
The development came after ASUU’s National Executive Council convened an emergency session at the University of Abuja to assess progress on the December 2025 agreement and deliberate on outstanding salary payments and deductions.
ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, gave the warning in a statement released in the early hours of Friday, saying the union could withdraw its members from classrooms without further notice if the outstanding issues remained unresolved.
According to Piwuna, the agreement reached after years of negotiations with the Federal Government and state governments has only received partial implementation, leaving several demands unsettled.
The union said the Federal Government had paid four of the 7.5 months’ salaries withheld from lecturers during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari but insisted that the remaining 3.5 months must also be paid. ASUU further alleged that pension contributions, cooperative deductions and union check-off dues amounting to billions of naira had remained unremitted for months.
The union also acknowledged governments that had begun implementing the December 2025 agreement, including Abia, Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno states.
It said Kano, Edo, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe and Bayelsa had indicated plans to begin implementation in September or October.
However, ASUU urged governments that had yet to act to resolve the outstanding issues before they escalate into a major industrial dispute. The union warned that the combination of unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and incomplete implementation of the agreement was threatening industrial harmony in the university system.
ASUU said it would not accept responsibility if the unresolved issues eventually forced it to revive its suspended industrial action.
