… Union demands full implementation of 2025 agreement
…Three-and-a-half months’ withheld salaries still unpaid, says Piwuna
Daud Olatunji
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to shut down Nigerian universities with a nationwide strike unless the Federal Government and state governments urgently resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.
The union specifically accused the authorities of failing to fully implement the December 2025 agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU, while raising concerns over alleged non-remittance of deductions from lecturers’ salaries.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, disclosed this in a statement obtained by PLATFORM TIMES on Friday following an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council held at the University of Abuja.
Piwuna said the union was particularly concerned about what he described as the “haphazard” implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement and the continuing uncertainty surrounding lecturers’ salaries.
He warned that unless immediate and concrete measures were taken to address the issues, ASUU-NEC might direct its members to embark on a nationwide strike within the shortest possible time.
According to him, the union would not accept responsibility for the consequences of industrial action if the government failed to address the grievances.
“Unless immediate and concrete steps are taken to fully and comprehensively address issues bordering on 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,” Piwuna said.
The ASUU president said lecturers in some universities were still facing uncertainty over when their salaries would be paid and how much they would receive each month.
He said the situation had created repeated confrontations between lecturers and university authorities, particularly vice-chancellors, over salary payments.
Piwuna also expressed concern over the alleged non-remittance of deductions made from lecturers’ salaries for pension contributions, cooperative societies and ASUU check-off dues.
He alleged that the deductions had not been properly remitted for several months, raising concerns about the financial welfare of affected academics.
The union president suggested that the withholding of some of the deductions might be connected to ASUU members’ rejection of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
ASUU has historically opposed the blanket application of IPPIS to university lecturers, arguing for a payroll system that accommodates the peculiarities of the university system.
The union also renewed its demand for the payment of the balance of salaries withheld from its members following the prolonged university strike under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Piwuna said three-and-a-half months out of the seven-and-a-half months’ salaries withheld from lecturers remained unpaid.
He acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had released four months of the withheld salaries but argued that the outstanding balance should also be paid.
“We have consistently acknowledged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for paying four of the withheld salaries. However, leaving out the unpaid balance does not give his government the full credit of a labour-friendly administration,” he said.
According to him, the withheld salaries have subjected ASUU members to considerable financial and psychological hardship, particularly as the purchasing power of the unpaid income has declined significantly since 2022.
Piwuna urged the Federal Government to release the outstanding salaries without further delay, describing the payment as necessary for “healing and restoration” in the Nigerian university system.
The ASUU president, however, acknowledged that some state governments had commenced implementing the 2025 agreement.
He listed Abia, Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno among the states that had begun implementation.
According to him, some other state governments have promised to commence implementation in September or October.
He, however, maintained that piecemeal implementation was insufficient to resolve the broader challenges confronting the university system.
Piwuna said the union could no longer “watch helplessly” while bureaucratic delays continued to undermine the welfare of academics and the effective functioning of Nigerian universities.
The latest warning comes amid renewed concerns over the stability of Nigeria’s university system, where disputes over funding, salaries, working conditions and implementation of agreements have repeatedly triggered industrial actions by university lecturers.
ASUU is now demanding concrete action from the government, warning that failure to address the outstanding issues could pave the way for another nationwide disruption of academic activities.
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