The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Sunday announced a two-week total and comprehensive warning strike across all public universities in Nigeria, citing the Federal Government’s continued failure to meet its long-standing commitments to the union.
The declaration, made by ASUU National President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, followed an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Abuja. Piwuna said the decision became inevitable after the expiration of the union’s 14-day ultimatum issued on September 28, 2025.
“Compatriots of the press, it goes without saying that there is nothing sufficient on the ground to stop the implementation of the ASUU-NEC’s resolution to embark on a two-week warning strike at the expiry of the 14-day notice,” Piwuna stated.
“Consequently, all branches of ASUU are hereby directed to withdraw their services with effect from midnight on Monday, October 13, 2025. The warning strike shall be total and comprehensive, as agreed at the last NEC meeting.”
The latest face-off marks another chapter in the recurring industrial unrest between the Federal Government and university lecturers. Central to ASUU’s grievances are unfulfilled components of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, issues around earned academic allowances, revitalisation funds for universities, and the autonomy of Nigerian universities.
Despite several rounds of negotiations, ASUU maintains that the government’s responses have been “piecemeal and inconsistent,” leaving the nation’s tertiary education sector perpetually unstable.
The Federal Government, however, insists that it has made significant progress toward resolving the disputes. On Wednesday, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, told journalists in Abuja that discussions with ASUU and other university-based unions had reached “the final phase.”
Alausa disclosed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had released ₦50 billion for the payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), while an additional ₦150 billion had been captured in the 2025 national budget for universities’ needs assessments. The minister added that the disbursement would be made in three tranches beginning early next year.
“This administration is committed to addressing the legitimate concerns of our academic staff and improving the state of our universities. We urge ASUU to remain patient as we finalise the modalities for implementation,” Alausa appealed.
The sudden declaration of the strike has triggered widespread anxiety among students, parents, and university administrators, many of whom fear yet another disruption to the academic calendar.
Some students, speaking to The PUNCH, expressed frustration over the recurrent industrial actions that have repeatedly stretched four-year degree programmes to six or seven years.
“We just resumed a few weeks ago, and now we’re being told to go home again,” lamented a 300-level student of the University of Ibadan, who asked not to be named. “It’s emotionally exhausting.”
Parents’ associations have also called on both parties to return to the negotiation table and prioritise the future of Nigerian students over bureaucratic disagreements.
ASUU’s current warning strike mirrors the union’s long-standing tradition of industrial action as a bargaining tool — a pattern that has, for decades, shaped Nigeria’s higher education discourse. The union last embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022, which lasted eight months and crippled academic activities nationwide.
Analysts note that while each strike draws attention to critical structural deficiencies in the education system, the lack of sustainable follow-through by successive administrations has entrenched a culture of crisis and reaction, rather than reform and resolution.
ASUU’s NEC is expected to reconvene at the end of the two-week warning strike to review developments and determine whether to proceed with a full-scale indefinite action if their demands remain unmet.
For now, the Nigerian academic community watches anxiously as the fragile truce between the government and the lecturers once again teeters on the brink of collapse — with the future of millions of students hanging in the balance.
