Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has issued a fresh and ominous threat of a nationwide strike, accusing the Federal Government of failing to fund the 40 per cent salary increase approved for university lecturers under the 2025 renegotiated agreement, a development that threatens to plunge Nigeria's public universities back into the cycle of industrial unrest that has crippled the sector for decades. The union's National Executive Council, which recently met in Abuja, expressed grave concern over what members consider the government's failure to fully implement the agreement signed in January 2026, and has warned that industrial action could commence between the end of August and early September if the funding issue is not urgently resolved. The threat comes barely a week after the Presidency declared that the era of prolonged ASUU strikes was "now history" and that Nigerian universities were enjoying an unprecedented three years of uninterrupted academic calendars under President Bola Tinubu, exposing the widening gap between government rhetoric and the grim reality on university campuses.
Professor Florence Onyebuchi Orabueze, Chairperson of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka chapter of ASUU, revealed that federal universities across the country have been unable to pay the July salary increment because the Federal Government has not released the necessary funds to sustain the payment. She said the UNN management had been using its internally generated revenue to fund the payment from January to June, but the Federal Government only reimbursed the institution for the period between January and May, leaving the university to bear the financial burden of the June increment. "The Vice Chancellor is not owing us anything; it is just that the Federal Government is not giving them the money for the payment. The problem is that the government is not releasing the money," Orabueze said. She stressed that the funding challenge was not peculiar to UNN but a nationwide problem affecting the implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase agreed under the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU renegotiated agreement.
The salary increase, approved by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, was scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026, and was central to the agreement signed by the Federal Government and ASUU in January 2026 after years of negotiations. The agreement included a 40 per cent upward review of academic salaries under the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure, new allowances such as the Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances and Earned Academic Allowances, and improved pensions for lecturers. However, the Federal Government's failure to release funds to federal universities has left many institutions unable to sustain the payment, forcing them to rely on internally generated revenue, which is insufficient to shoulder the financial burden.
Orabueze disclosed that discussions at the ASUU NEC meeting involving representatives from almost 100 universities showed that the funding crisis was widespread, with no federal university having paid the July increment. "When we went to Abuja for NEC, more than almost 100 universities, we found out that no federal university has paid that of July," she said. She expressed frustration over what she described as the government's treatment of university lecturers, comparing their approved salary increase with the reported 300 per cent increase for judicial officers. "The Federal Government is not serious with us. They gave judges 300 per cent, but they are struggling to implement a 40 per cent salary increase for lecturers," she lamented.
The Sokoto Zone of ASUU had earlier issued a strong warning that a fresh industrial crisis was looming across Nigeria's public universities, attributing the threat to the Federal Government's distorted, slow, and incomplete implementation of the FGN-ASUU Agreement. The Zonal Coordinator of the union, Abubakar Sabo, said the continued delay in implementing the 2025 agreement was creating tension across campuses and threatening industrial harmony. He noted that despite the public signing and presentation of the agreement in January 2026, the government had yet to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee, resulting in delays, inconsistencies and selective implementation of the agreement by university authorities. "The continued delay in addressing these issues is capable of provoking avoidable industrial unrest in the university system," Sabo warned.
Beyond the salary increment, ASUU has listed several unresolved welfare issues confronting lecturers, including arrears of the 25–35 per cent salary award, promotion arrears, salary shortfalls arising from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System platform, unremitted deductions, withheld salaries from the 2022 strike action and delayed pension payments for retired academics. The union has also expressed concern over the absence of governing councils in some institutions and the non-remittance of cooperative deductions and union dues. In addition, ASUU has criticised the government's proposed establishment of a Nigerian campus of Coventry University under the Transnational Education framework, arguing that the move could weaken local universities and deepen educational dependency on foreign institutions.
The threat of a fresh nationwide strike has already begun to materialise in some state universities. The Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko branch of ASUU declared a total and indefinite strike on August 11, 2026, over the non-implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement. The institution's Chairman of ASUU, Prof. Boluwaji Oshodi, said members of the union would not return to the lecture rooms on mere promises or commitments unless concrete actions were taken by the state government. "The union has just declared an indefinite, total, and comprehensive strike over the non-implementation of the Federal Government of Nigeria/ASUU 2025 agreement," Oshodi said. He added that several other state governments had already commenced implementation, questioning why Ondo State, an oil-producing state, should be different.
The looming strike threat represents a significant setback for the Tinubu administration, which had hailed the 2025 agreement as a historic breakthrough that would end the cycle of prolonged strikes and ensure stable academic calendars. The agreement was presented as a renewed commitment by President Tinubu's administration to stable academic calendars and improved welfare for lecturers. However, the government's failure to fund the salary increase has exposed the fragility of the industrial peace and raised questions about the administration's commitment to its promises. The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, had earlier assured that the implementation of the agreement would begin unfailingly in January 2026, but the funding crisis has cast doubt on the government's ability to fulfil its obligations.
As ASUU's National Executive Council prepares to make a final decision on industrial action, the union has appealed to parents, students, civil society organisations and patriotic Nigerians to support the struggle for a functional and adequately funded public university system. The union has maintained that while it remains committed to dialogue and constructive engagement, it would not remain silent while agreements were ignored and the nation's university system deteriorated further. With the threat of a nationwide strike looming, students, parents and the Nigerian public are left to wonder whether the cycle of industrial unrest that has plagued the nation's universities for decades is about to resume, and whether the government will take the necessary steps to fulfil its promises before it is too late.
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