Nigeria’s fragile university system is heading towards another major disruption as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given 20 state-owned universities 14 days to resolve outstanding issues over the implementation of the 2025 renegotiated agreement or face an indefinite strike.
The ultimatum threatens to reopen a familiar crisis in Nigeria’s public universities, barely months after the Federal Government and ASUU reached a new agreement aimed at ending years of disputes over lecturers’ welfare and working conditions.
ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, disclosed the decision in a statement following the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Abuja on August 8 and 9.
The union blamed what it described as the “haphazard implementation” of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement and the alleged failure of governments to release funds required to meet their obligations.
Piwuna said the NEC had directed the affected institutions to issue 14-day ultimatums before shutting down academic activities indefinitely.
The universities affected include Nasarawa State University, Keffi; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai; University of Medical Sciences, Ondo; Gombe State University; Plateau State University, Bokkos; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba; Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; Abia State University, Uturu; and University of Education and Entrepreneurship, Akamkpa.
Others are Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo; Kaduna State University; Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil; Northwest University, Kano; Enugu State University of Science and Technology; Imo State University; Niger Delta University; University of Africa, Toru-Orua; Bayelsa Medical University; and Taraba State University, Jalingo.
Agreement signed after 16-year deadlock
The latest confrontation is particularly significant because the 2025 agreement was reached after nearly 16 years of disagreement over the implementation of an earlier pact between the government and the lecturers’ union.
The Federal Government and ASUU signed the renegotiated agreement on January 14 after negotiations that were concluded in December 2025.
The agreement provided for the payment of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) and professorial allowance, among other measures designed to improve lecturers’ welfare and strengthen teaching and research in public universities.
But implementation has since become a fresh source of tension.
ASUU said only about 10 state universities had fully implemented the agreement, leaving more than 57 others in uncertainty.
The union accused the Federal Government of showing a “lackadaisical attitude” towards releasing the subvention required for implementation, while state universities continue to struggle with their own financial obligations.
“NEC discussed the state of the struggle and noted that a significant milestone had been reached signing the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement, but frowned at the haphazard implementation and lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government in the release of subvention to fully actualise the implementation of the said 2025 Agreement,” the union said.
The emerging dispute underscores the continuing fragility of Nigeria’s university system, where agreements intended to stabilise academic activities can quickly become fresh triggers for industrial action.
Unless the outstanding obligations are addressed within the 14-day window, students in the affected universities could once again be forced out of classrooms as ASUU prepares to activate an indefinite strike.
For thousands of students and their families, the immediate concern is no longer whether another agreement will be signed, but whether governments will implement the agreement already signed before another academic year is disrupted.
