Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kano Zone, has issued a stern warning to the governments of Kano, Kaduna, and Jigawa states, threatening industrial action if they continue to delay the implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement in their state-owned universities. The union declared that continued inaction would inevitably undermine industrial harmony and disrupt the academic calendar across the zone.
Addressing a press conference at Bayero University, Kano, on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, the Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Abdulrazaq Ibrahim, said that while the Federal Government had begun implementing key aspects of the agreement in most federal universities, none of the state-owned institutions within the Kano Zone had domesticated or implemented its provisions.
The Kano Zone comprises eight universities: Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Bayero University, Kano; Kaduna State University; Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil; Federal University Dutse; Northwest University, Kano; Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa; and the Federal University of Technology, Babura.
According to the union, the Federal Government has released funds to settle outstanding five-month arrears covering salary components under the agreement, including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), Professorial Secretariat Administrative Allowance (SAA), and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).
The 2025 agreement, signed after eight years of negotiation, covers arrears of salaries and various academic allowances. ASUU expressed concern that the state governments in the zone were yet to honour the agreement despite participating in the negotiations that culminated in its signing in December 2025. The union noted that several state-owned universities across the country, including Sa'adu Zungur University, Ekiti State University, Osun State University, Benue State University, Sokoto State University, and Shehu Shagari University of Education, have already adopted and implemented the agreement.
Beyond the immediate implementation of the agreement, ASUU renewed its demand for the payment of the withheld three-and-a-half months' salaries of its members. The union insisted that lecturers continued to carry out research during the strike period and resumed academic duties immediately after the suspension of the industrial action. It also decried delays in the remittance of outstanding third-party deductions and pension contributions to the National Pension Commission (PenCom), calling on relevant authorities to clear the backlog and ensure regular remittances to Pension Fund Administrators.
The union warned that continued delays, selective implementation, or outright disregard for the 2025 agreement could undermine industrial harmony and disrupt academic activities in universities across the zone. It appealed to parents, students, civil society organisations, the media, and the general public to prevail on the affected state governments to honour the agreement, stressing that failure to do so could jeopardise access to quality higher education and delay students' academic and professional aspirations.
Beyond university-related issues, ASUU expressed concern over Nigeria's worsening security situation, economic hardship, and the effects of climate change, saying terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and farmer-herder conflicts continue to threaten lives, livelihoods, and national development. The union urged governments at all levels to fulfil their constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property while implementing policies that promote security, economic justice, and sustainable development.
The Kano Zone's warning is part of a broader movement by ASUU. The union also held press conferences in the Sokoto, Calabar, and Akure zones on Wednesday, expressing frustration over what it described as partial implementation of the agreement, particularly by state-owned universities. In the Calabar Zone, the union threatened an indefinite strike across universities in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Ebonyi states. The Sokoto Zone criticised the governments of Kebbi, Katsina, and Zamfara states for failing to honour the agreement. The Akure Zone criticised the Ondo State government for failing to implement the agreement, though the state's Commissioner for Education later said steps were being taken to comply.
As the federal government continues to fulfil its obligations, the spotlight remains firmly on the state governments of Kano, Kaduna, and Jigawa, whose inaction threatens to plunge their universities into another round of industrial unrest.
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