Says full-blown strike may be inevitable
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Ibadan Zone, on Friday warned that a nationwide strike may be unavoidable following what it described as the Federal Government’s discouraging handling of its ongoing industrial dispute.
Addressing journalists at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, the Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Biodun Olaniran, accused government officials of misleading Nigerians while frustrating the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement.
Olaniran said contrary to public claims, the union’s core demand remained the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement by the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed-led committee to produce a new, realistic salary structure to replace CONUASS, which he noted had been eroded by years of galloping inflation.
ASUU had embarked on a two-week warning strike on October 13, 2025, which was suspended five days before its expiration following interventions by students, parents, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the media and other critical stakeholders. The union subsequently granted a one-month window for the conclusion of the renegotiation process, in line with the NLC’s ultimatum to the government.
Representatives of the Ibadan Zone include the University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, LAUTECH, Osun State University, Kwara State University and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education. Olaniran addressed the briefing alongside the chairpersons of the respective branches.
He said the union had expected the government to demonstrate commitment to national development and technological advancement by working within the agreed timeline. Instead, he alleged, the Federal Government was treating the matter with levity, adding that only “misinformation, disinformation and propaganda” had been recorded eight days to the expiration of the window.
While acknowledging the partial release of four-year promotion arrears and some third-party deductions, the union insisted these gestures did not amount to meeting ASUU’s demands.
Olaniran disclosed that the union’s National Executive Council, which met at Taraba State University on November 8 and 9, reviewed the state of engagement with the Federal Government and state university visitors, noting that insecurity and economic hardship were worsening conditions for academic staff nationwide.
He said unless the government urgently offered a competitive salary structure, another disruption of academic calendars across public universities might be unavoidable.
According to him, the counter-offers presented by the government through the Yayale Ahmed Committee were “inappropriate and unacceptable,” especially to academics who had earned the same salaries for sixteen years. He added that the offer fell below what many West African countries paid their lecturers, even as Nigerian politicians remained among the highest paid on the continent.
The ASUU zonal leader further lamented that three and a half months’ salaries withheld from federal university lecturers over the 2022 strike had yet to be released, while many state universities were still owing withheld salaries, promotion arrears and Earned Academic Allowances.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Osun State University has yet to release the withheld salaries of our members from 2018 and 2020 as well as arrears of the reduced 2015–2019 EAA,” he said. “The story is the same at LAUTECH, where EAA and promotion arrears are outstanding, while KWASU has not benefitted from EAA at all.”
Describing the situation as “anti-progress, anti-labour and inhumane,” ASUU demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all withheld payments, warning that failure to do so could plunge the nation’s universities into yet another round of industrial crisis.
