The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to embark on another strike over the Federal Government’s failure to honour agreements and resolve lingering issues in Nigeria’s university system.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday at the University of Jos, ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, declared that the union had been “pushed to the wall” after waiting for more than two years without any meaningful progress.
Piwuna dismissed the government’s proposed loan scheme for university workers, describing it as a “poison chalice.”
He accused the current administration of engaging in deliberate delay tactics in renegotiating the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, clearing outstanding salary arrears, and implementing measures necessary to revitalise public universities.
“Trust has been destroyed by the government. It is, therefore, up to them to regain it to avert any strike,” Piwuna warned.
On the 2009 Agreement and Collective Bargaining, the union lamented that despite the submission of the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed Report in February 2025, the government has failed to act on its recommendations.
ASUU noted that this inaction undermined the principle of collective bargaining, a standard Nigeria is bound to as a signatory to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.
While acknowledging a government meeting scheduled for August 28, ASUU cautioned that time was running out.
The draft agreement under discussion covers critical issues such as conditions of service, university autonomy, academic freedom, funding, and a review of the laws governing JAMB and the NUC.
The union strongly opposed the government’s proposed Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF), which seeks to provide lecturers with loans. It maintained that what its members required was improved wages through the renegotiated agreement, not additional debts.
ASUU also criticised the unchecked proliferation of universities, accusing successive governments of using them as instruments of political patronage rather than genuine centres of learning. It pointed out that although Nigeria currently has 339 universities — 72 federal, 108 state, and 159 private — many still lack basic facilities and adequate staffing.
Prof. Piwuna disclosed that the National Executive Council (NEC), after its recent meeting at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, resolved to await the outcome of the government’s August 28 meeting before deciding on strike action.
In the meantime, the union announced that it would hold rallies across university campuses next week as a warning signal to the Federal Government