ASUU

By Prof. Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik

I was invited to conduct an external examination for three postgraduate students (1 PhD and 2 MSc) at an institution about 87 kilometres from my university. The three theses were sent days before the scheduled examination for me to read page by page, contribute to improving the work, prepare questions, and then schedule a date to travel to examine the students.

I did not drive there.

I had an instinct that whatever mileage they would pay would not cover my fuel costs. I wasn’t prepared to spend my own money to finance an examination for which I had already done several days of intellectual work. You don’t want to know the honorarium for the several days of intellectual work.

So I took a bike to the park, boarded public transport, and travelled to the institution. To make the journey comfortable, I paid for two seats. The two seats cost ₦5,000. The examination lasted 6 hours without a break because it had to be concluded that day. At the end of the day, they brought me a claim to sign, and the mileage was ₦40 per kilometre. They quoted the distance to be 74 kilometres. That meant I was entitled to ₦2,960 for travelling to an institution approximately 87 kilometres away. That’s the worth we placed on ourselves. I laughed very hard, not because it was funny but because it was absurd and ridiculous.

Then, I asked them: So academics sat down and agreed that the cost of travelling one kilometre for a professor conducting a postgraduate external examination is ₦40? That was the moment I decided that this would be my first and last time honouring a postgraduate examination invitation from that institution.

I was lamenting this experience, and what I see as the self-normalisation of poverty in our universities, to a colleague. His response shocked me. He told me that, as a postgraduate coordinator, he does receive phone calls from senior colleagues asking to be considered for external examinations. They were not invited. They were calling to ask for the opportunity. That is when I began to think more deeply about self-normalisation of poverty.

Self-normalisation of poverty is the process by which people gradually begin to accept poverty, deprivation, and poor living conditions as normal, inevitable, or even acceptable. Poverty initially produces frustration. Prolonged poverty produces adaptation. Prolonged adaptation produces acceptance. And acceptance has eventually produced defence of the very conditions that created the poverty.

The danger is not merely that lecturers become poor. The greater danger is that poverty becomes normalised by the very people who should be challenging the conditions that produced it.

Meanwhile, I got an interesting response to my last piece from a professor who is proudly saving ₦500,000 per month. I must applaud the professor for sustaining his family and all his needs with an amount equivalent to the 2025 salary that ASUU thought was not enough for him. He was able to save from his pre-CATA salary, add it to the new CATA and professorial allowance, and save ₦500k every month. Seriously, saving ₦500,000 every month in Nigeria today is not a small achievement.

Within 2 years and with consistency, the professor will be able to save about ₦12 million, ignoring interest and unforeseen circumstances. But the reality is that the current value of that 10 million is about the same as the value of ₦700,000 that an Assistant Lecturer saved within 2 years from 2005 to 2007. A 15-year-old car that cost between ₦700 and ₦1m in 2007 costs about ₦10m now. 

So what exactly are we celebrating? The fact that a professor said he can now save ₦500,000 every month?

Or the fact that it takes a professor two years of disciplined saving to accumulate money whose purchasing power may resemble what a much more junior academic could accumulate much earlier?

For a lecturer celebrating a professor achieving in 2026, what an Assistant Lecturer could achieve in 2007 is a testament to the self-normalisation of poverty.

Let’s remember where we are coming from.

When I was employed in 2005, an Assistant Lecturer’s net salary was about ₦37,000. At the exchange rate of the time, that was roughly $280. In 2006, it rose to about ₦57,000, approximately $445. By 2009, during the Yar’Adua administration, the net salary of AL increased to around ₦110,000, approximately $738.

By 2022, ₦110,000 was worth only about $246 at the prevailing exchange rate. After subsidy removal in 2023 and naira devaluation, ₦110,000 dropped to as low as $73. By 2026, an Assistant Lecturer’s salary rose to roughly ₦250,000. That’s about $180. That is what we are celebrating. 

What happened to Nigerian professors? 

In March 2012, I purchased a London-Abuja British Airways round-trip ticket for £552.09 (₦138,574.59). In 2012, a professor’s salary was about ₦460,000 (£1,832.7). That means that by May 2015, a professor at the bar could afford a week’s holiday in London with his one-month salary. The ticket cost less than one third of the salary, and the remainder would comfortably cover the living expenses. 

From comfort to survival.

Since 2015, after Buhari came to power, the comfort that Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan gave to university lecturers was taken away. Buhari’s 2022 strangulation of Academics is still very fresh. Then, Tinubu crushed that comfort in May 2023 (₦416,000, worth 277 USD for a professor at the bar) by withdrawing fuel subsidies and devaluing the naira, before a raise in 2026 to about ₦1m (750 USD) for a professor. But the value is still less than what Buhari left it at: ₦416,000 (930 USD) for a professor at the bar.

The Stalin Chicken. 

This is where the Joseph Stalin-Chicken metaphor becomes powerful. A chicken is being plucked. It is painful. It is losing its feathers. It has nowhere to go. Then the same hand that has been plucking its feathers throws a few grains of food in front of it. The chicken follows the hand.

Not because the hand has stopped hurting it. But because survival has become more important than resistance.

That is what poverty can do to human beings. It can make people grateful for crumbs from the very system whose structure has impoverished them. And I fear that some academics have become so desperate for survival that they follow the very hand that has caused their suffering, simply because that hand is now offering them crumbs.

The application of the Stalin Chicken model, especially on academics, is a brilliant one from PBAT.

I will excuse those relatively young academics who do not know where we are coming from. They cannot compare what they have with what existed before they entered the system.

Of course, we are grateful to God for our current situations. We should also be grateful for the improvements that have occurred. But gratitude should not kill critical thinking. Real academics are not supposed to become professional worshippers of crumbs. We should interrogate systems. We should ask questions. We should challenge policies. We should understand the difference between survival and progress.

However, as more senior academics mobilise for endorsement, don’t go in with self-normalised poverty in academia. Ensure that you negotiate for an endorsement package that can at least change your car. Don’t go for crumbs.

Best wishes!

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Kaduna State Government has approved the implementation of the 2025 Federal Government of Nigeria–Academic Staff Union of Universities (FGN–ASUU) Salary Agreement for academic staff of Kaduna State University (KASU).

The new salary structure will take effect from the October 2026 salary.

The approval was based on the report and recommendations of a 9-member Government–KASU–ASUU Negotiation Committee established by Governor Uba Sani to review the demands of the union and recommend a sustainable framework for implementation.

The approved package covers provisions contained in the 2025 FGN–ASUU Agreement, including the revised Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS), Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) and other applicable salary adjustments and allowances.

The state government said the decision reflects Governor Sani’s commitment to education and human-capital development.

According to the government, at least 25 percent of Kaduna State’s annual budget has been allocated to education since Sani assumed office. It added that 3,267 classrooms have been constructed or renovated, alongside 1,194 toilets and 90 boreholes.

The government also said 57,777 units of furniture have been supplied to learners and teachers across the state, while other education projects remain ongoing.

It further highlighted the approval of a 50 percent reduction in tertiary education fees and the extension of the retirement age for school teachers from 60 to 65 years.

On the challenge of out-of-school children, the government said more than 300,000 children have returned to education from an estimated population of over 500,000 out-of-school children inherited in 2023.

It said Kaduna’s household-mapping approach for identifying out-of-school children has since been adopted by the Federal Government as a model for addressing the problem nationwide.

The state government also said 4,050 young people have graduated from its structured vocational-training programme. According to the government, the Federal Ministry of Education has requested Kaduna’s technical and vocational training manuals for use as reference materials at the national level.

The government further pointed to reforms at the Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority (KSSQAA), which it said has been transformed into a more technology-driven and data-based institution.

Following the approval, the state government called on ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT to continue to use dialogue to resolve differences.

It said improved welfare for university staff should lead to better teaching, research, innovation and student outcomes at KASU.

The government also urged the university to pursue measures that would improve its international standing and visibility in global university rankings, including the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.

The state government commended KASU management, ASUU and other stakeholders for their patience and engagement throughout the negotiation process.

It said the approval represents an investment in the university community and a renewed commitment to making KASU a peaceful, competitive and accountable institution capable of meeting the demands of the 21st century.

The statement was signed on September 11, 2026, by Professor Abubakar Sani Sambo, OON, NPOM, Commissioner for Education and Chairman of the 9-Member Government–KASU–ASUU Negotiation Committee.

By Anwar Usman


The Federal Government has warned tertiary institutions against presenting borrowed lecturers, equipment, laboratories and other facilities during accreditation exercises to give a false impression of their capacity.

The minister made this known in Abuja at the inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Strengthening the Accreditation and Quality Assurance System for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria which was chaired by the immediate past Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ish-aq Oloyede.

He stated that institutions would henceforth be assessed strictly on the resources they genuinely own and can sustainably make available to students, stressing that the practice of borrowing facilities to deceive accreditation teams would no longer be tolerated.

He further revealed that, government is doing its best to overhaul the accreditation system for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to prevent institutions from creating a “temporary picture” of their capacity whenever accreditation teams visit.

He said accreditation process is designed to provide an accurate picture of an institution’s ability to deliver quality education, but showed concern that some institutions temporarily assemble personnel and facilities solely to satisfy accreditation requirements.

“An institution should not be able to prepare a temporary picture of itself simply for the purpose of an accreditation visit. Sadly, this is what we see in a majority of instances,” the minister said.

He said the government would tackle the temporary movement of academic and non-academic personnel to institutions ahead of accreditation visits.

“We must similarly address the temporary movement, borrowing or presentation of equipment, laboratory facilities, workshop resources, library materials and other infrastructure solely for accreditation purposes,” he said.

The minister further revealed that, the government would no longer be satisfied with what institutions merely present to accreditation teams, insisting that regulators must be able to verify that the resources actually exist and remain available after the accreditation exercise.

“When an accreditation team visits an institution, what it sees and verifies should represent the actual and sustainable capacity of that institution, not an arrangement assembled for the accreditation exercise,” he said.

The Guardian reports that, the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) would be required to strengthen mechanisms for verifying the authenticity and continuous availability of staff, facilities and equipment.

The government also plans to deploy technology to track institutional resources.

According to Alausa, critical equipment presented for accreditation should be digitally identified and linked to a specific institution and physical location.

Such equipment, he said, should have a unique digital record indicating its location, status and other relevant information.

The minister also announced plans for tighter verification of personnel presented by institutions during accreditation.

He said the government would develop a digital identity-management and staff-verification framework to establish that individuals presented as academic and non-academic staff are genuinely associated with the institutions claiming them.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed frustration over the federal government’s handling of the renegotiated agreement on Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), warning that lecturers may soon embark on industrial action.

ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, made the remarks during an interview on Thursday. He accused the federal ministry of education of failing to properly implement parts of the agreement reached with the union.

The federal government had signed a renegotiated agreement with ASUU on January 14 after years of disputes and strike actions across public universities. The negotiations were concluded in December 2025.

Despite the agreement, several federal universities have recorded delays in salary payments since February. The development has sparked complaints from ASUU branches across the country.

Piwuna said university lecturers are no longer comfortable with the situation, especially the non-payment of Earned Academic Allowances, which he said has lasted for 18 months.

“Our members across the branches feel the pinch, so their responses are expected,” he said.

“The federal ministry of education has gone to sleep. We intend to wake them up. When the drums start beating, be sure of what will follow.”

The ASUU president also faulted the government for allegedly shifting responsibility for the allowances to vice-chancellors.

“We agreed that EAA should be mainstreamed to address the problem of accumulated arrears. They are back to the mess of EAA arrears again,” he said.

He added that although the government announced professional allowances for lecturers, some university authorities still struggle to pay them.

“Our promotion arrears have been waiting for the approval of the minister of finance. Now they say the new minister has to settle down. We are tired of your tactics. We are fed up,” the ASUU president maintained.

Piwuna further stated that the agreement reached with the government required the EAA to be incorporated into lecturers’ salaries from January, but this has not happened.

“We are literally back to the Ngige era of never-ending EAA renegotiation,” he said.

“The truth is that we have not received it (EAA) for 18 months.

“It was mainstreamed in the 2025 budget. They did not implement it. This current minister said it would start in January this year. Nothing.”

He explained that the December 2025 agreement included additional allowances for lecturers.

“After signing the December 2025 agreement, we had three allowances added to our salary — 40 percent covering things like journal allowance, conference allowance, book allowance, et cetera,” he said.

“Then we have the professorial allowance. Then a percentage of EAA into our monthly salary.

“All these have been implemented in the most haphazard manner you could ever imagine.”

By Muhammad Umar Shehu

Once again, the federal government is threatening the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) with its usual tactic, no work, no pay. It’s the same tired strategy used by previous administrations whenever the union pushes for the full implementation of agreements that were voluntarily signed. But history has shown that this policy does not resolve issues; it only increases mistrust, diminishes morale, and further weakens our universities.

During President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the no-work-no-pay policy was enforced after the 2022 ASUU strike, which lasted eight months. Lecturers were unpaid despite the government’s failure to fulfil promises that caused the strike. Buhari’s approach focused on punishment rather than dialogue, leading to resentment and strained relations with academics. The key issues- poor funding, unpaid allowances, and decayed infrastructure- remain unresolved.

Education is not like any other sector. ASUU is not just another pressure group that you can intimidate or silence with threats. This is a body of intellectuals, people whose weapon is knowledge and whose struggle is for national development. You can’t use the same tactics that might work on transport unions or political protesters on an organisation built on principles, history, and intellectual resistance.

Globally, similar unions in countries such as South Africa, the United Kingdom, and even the United States have stood their ground when governments have failed to meet academic demands. In 2016, for instance, the South African “Fees Must Fall” movement forced the government to rethink its policies and increase education funding. In the UK, university staff have repeatedly gone on strike over pay and working conditions, yet the government has had to return to the negotiating table rather than threaten them. These examples show that dialogue and respect for agreements are the only sustainable paths, not coercion.

In Nigeria’s own history, ASUU has endured decades of intimidation and threats. From the military era to the present democratic dispensation, their fight has remained consistent to protect public universities from total collapse. They have been banned, unbanned, and blacklisted, yet they stay because they represent something more profound than just salary negotiations. They represent the conscience of our educational system.

The government’s repeated use of the “no work, no pay” policy is not just short-sighted; it is a confession of leadership failure. Instead of fixing the root causes of the strikes, those in power prefer to silence those who expose their neglect. The result is what we see today: poor learning conditions, brain drain, and a generation of students whose academic lives are constantly interrupted.

It’s time the government understood that ASUU’s strength lies in its moral ground. Their struggle is not for personal gain but for the survival of education in Nigeria. Threats won’t work; intimidation won’t help. Only commitment, dialogue, and respect for signed agreements will bring peace to our universities.

If we truly want to equip our education system for the poor and the future, we must stop treating teachers as enemies and start treating them as partners. A nation that punishes those who fight for education has already given up on its future.

Muhammad Umar Shehu wrote from Gombe and can be reached viaumarmuhammadshehu2@gmail.com.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

Public universities across Nigeria face an indefinite closure starting Friday, November 21, 2025, following a strike notice issued by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The union made the announcement via its official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday, November 18, giving the Federal Government a three-day ultimatum to meet its demands.

According to the statement, the industrial action will proceed if the government fails to address key issues, including fair remuneration and improved working conditions for lecturers.

ASUU also explicitly rejected the government’s proposed 35% salary increase, deeming it inadequate.

“All universities will be closed nationwide till further notice on Friday,” ASUU declared.

This development threatens to disrupt academic activities across the country, potentially throwing millions of students and their families into uncertainty.

By Lawan Bukar Maigana 

In Nigeria, university strikes have become an all-too-familiar story, a recurring wound that never seems to heal. Each time ASUU announces an industrial action, lectures stop, campuses grow silent, and dreams are placed on hold. Politicians continue with their schedules, lecturers retreat to side jobs, but the students —the very heart of the education system —are left stranded. They lose time, motivation, and opportunities that they can never fully recover. Yet, as the cycle repeats, one cannot help but ask: who truly bears the weight of these strikes, and who should take responsibility for the damage they cause?

For decades, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has justified its strikes as a means of pressuring the government to honour agreements on better funding, fair wages, and improved infrastructure. These demands are valid. Anyone who has walked through the corridors of a public university in Nigeria would agree that poor facilities, overcrowded lecture halls, and unpaid salaries reflect a deep neglect of education by successive governments.

But while the union’s grievances are understandable, the methods have become controversial. The government, on the other hand, often accuses ASUU of holding the system hostage. It argues that the union’s insistence on strikes as the only bargaining tool cripples progress and punishes innocent students who have no hand in the dispute. In the end, both parties trade blame while the students, the most powerless group in the equation, pay the ultimate price.

A four-year course can easily stretch to six or seven years because of strike interruptions. Many students find their enthusiasm fading over time. Some lose focus entirely and drop out of school. For those who persevere, the delay spills into their plans. By the time they graduate, they are already approaching 28, 29, or even 30, before the one-year NYSC service.

The real tragedy becomes apparent when they start searching for jobs. Most government and private organisations in Nigeria set an age limit of 26 to 30 for entry-level positions. By the time many graduates are done with university and service, they have crossed the threshold. Their only crime is being caught in a system that values bureaucracy over merit and punishes them for something beyond their control.

This is why it is not just an academic crisis; it is an economic one. Each prolonged strike increases youth unemployment and deepens poverty. Parents who struggled to pay tuition watch their investments stagnate, and the nation loses years of productivity from its young minds. How can a country move forward when its brightest are trapped in uncertainty?

Yet, every time negotiations collapse, the conversation focuses on who blinked first, ASUU or the government, not on who bleeds most from the outcome. It is as though the welfare of students matters less than the politics of power and payment. That is the heart of the problem.

Let us be honest. Both parties are culpable. The government’s insensitivity and failure to prioritise education are unacceptable. Budgetary allocations to education consistently fall below UNESCO’s recommended 26 per cent. Lecturers, too, must reflect on whether indefinite strikes remain the most effective way to demand change. It is one thing to fight for rights; it is another to destroy the bridge that connects those rights to the future.

If universities had better funding, research grants, and prompt salaries, ASUU would have no reason to down tools. But if the union continues to rely solely on strikes without exploring alternative forms of advocacy, such as strategic legal action, citizen engagement, or performance-based protests, then students will remain collateral damage in every industrial action.

The solution lies in sincerity from both sides. Government officials must stop making empty promises and start implementing lasting reforms. ASUU must adopt modern negotiation strategies that prioritise students’ interests first. The students themselves must also rise, through constructive activism, to demand accountability from all sides.

Education is not a privilege; it is a right. Every time it is disrupted, a generation loses part of its potential. The government and ASUU must remember that time is not renewable. Every month lost to a strike is a wound that never fully heals for a student.

Some will argue that strikes have brought partial victories such as improved salaries, better agreements, and occasional funding. But these victories often come at too great a cost. Students spend longer years on campus, graduate later, and face tighter job markets. Many lose scholarships or opportunities abroad because their transcripts are delayed or their academic calendars are unpredictable.

A society that allows this cycle to persist undervalues its youth. The damage is not immediately visible, but it later manifests in the frustration of jobless graduates, the rise of social vices, and the erosion of hope. When young people start believing that hard work no longer pays, the nation begins to decay silently.

The truth is simple: when universities are on strike, everyone loses, but students lose the most. They lose time, morale, and faith. And no compensation can restore that lost time.

Until the day Nigeria treats education as a national emergency, not a political bargaining chip, these strikes will continue, and the nation will keep producing delayed graduates and disappointed dreams.

The next time a strike is declared, we should ask not just who is right or wrong, but who is hurting most. Because in the end, it is not the lecturers or the politicians who suffer, it is the students whose futures hang in the balance.

Lawan Bukar Maigana is a media consultant, humanitarian, storyteller, and inspiring diplomat. He can be reached via email at lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com.

By Anwar Usman

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has announced the suspension of its ongoing two-week warning strike which started Monday, October 13th.

This was revealed by the National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, in an ongoing press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to the president, the decision stemmed from the meeting of the National Executive Council meeting which was held overnight and ended by 4:00 am on Wednesday.

Piwuna noted that the union decided to embark on the strike due to the failure of the government to meet its demands on time.

“We’ve had useful engagements with representatives of the government to consider the response to the draft renegotiation of the 2009 agreements. However, we are definitely not where we were prior to the commencement of the strike.

“The union acknowledged that the government returned to the negotiation table. While noting that a lot more work is still required, NEC came to the conclusion that the ongoing strike should be reviewed. The decision to review the strike action was a result of efforts by our students, parents, and the Nigeria Labour Congress.

“Consequently, NEC resolved to suspend the warning strike to reciprocate the efforts of well-meaning Nigerians.”

Recall that, the major demands by ASUU includes the conclusion of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, the release of the withheld three and a half months’ salaries, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of public universities, and cessation of the victimisation of lecturers in LASU, Prince Abubakar Audu University, and FUTO.

Others are payment of outstanding 25-35% salary arrears, payment of promotion arrears for over four years and release of withheld third-party deductions (cooperative contributions, union check-off dues).

By Anwar Usman

The Federal Government on Sunday night threatened to implement the no-work-no-pay policy on the Academic Staff Union of Universities due to its failure to comply ongoing negotiations.

In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Education Folasade Boriowo, says the ministry accused ASUU of not being cooperative despite efforts by the government to avert the strike that was declared by the union.

“The Ministers further stressed that the government has continued to prioritise the welfare of university staff and the stability of the academic calendar under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

“According to them, dialogue remains the most effective and sustainable path to resolving disagreements, and government remains open to engagement at any level to prevent unnecessary disruption in the education sector.

They, however, emphasised that the “no work, no pay” policy remains an extant labour law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the government will be guided by this law should academic activities be disrupted in the nation’s universities.

While the government continues to demonstrate goodwill and flexibility, it will not abdicate its responsibility to uphold fairness and accountability in the use of public resources.

The statement also reassured Nigerian students, parents, and the general public that the Federal Government is firmly committed to maintaining industrial harmony in the tertiary education system.

The statement further revealed that, “Ministers appealed to all academic unions to embrace partnership and dialogue rather than confrontation, in the collective interest of the nation’s higher education system.”

On Sunday, the university lecturers declared a total and comprehensive two-week warning strike starting from Monday, October 13.

ASUU is currently demanding the conclusion of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement including the release of the withheld three and a half months’ salaries, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of public universities, and cessation of the victimisation of lecturers in LASU, Prince Abubakar Audu University, and FUTO.

Others factors include the payment of outstanding 25-35% salary arrears, payment of promotion arrears for over four years and release of withheld third-party deductions (cooperative contributions, union check-off dues)

By Anas Abbas

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have declared a one-day nationwide protest for Thursday, October 9, 2025, over the Federal Government’s failure to address their long-standing demands.

Acting under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), both unions have directed their branches to hold joint emergency congresses on Wednesday, October 8, to mobilise members for the protest.

According to the directive, the protest activities will include peaceful marches within campuses, display of placards, and press briefings to draw public attention to their grievances.

The decision followed a comprehensive review of government actions during JAC’s meeting held on October 6, after the expiration of several ultimatums earlier issued to the Federal Government.

Among the unresolved issues are the alleged unequal disbursement of the ₦50 billion earned allowances, delay in renegotiating the 2009 FGN/NASU/SSANU agreements, non-payment of two months’ outstanding salaries, arrears of 25 and 35 per cent salary increments, and non-remittance of third-party deductions for May and June 2022.

JAC had earlier given a seven-day ultimatum to the government on September 15, which was later extended by another 14 days, expiring on Monday, October 6, without any concrete response.

In a circular dated October 6, 2025, and titled “Commencement of Protest Actions,” jointly signed by NASU General Secretary, Prince Peters Adeyemi, and SSANU National President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, the unions instructed all branches to fully participate in the protest.

The circular stated, “Following the inauguration of the Joint Consultative Committee by the Honourable Minister of Education to look into the demands of JAC of NASU and SSANU, the committee met twice on Friday, 19th September 2025, and Monday, 6th October 2025 with little progress, as our demands remain unresolved despite the extension of the ultimatum.”

It added that all members in both federal and state-owned universities “are expected to strictly comply with this directive,” stressing that unity and total participation were crucial to the success of the action.

SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, recently accused the government of insincerity, warning that the unions could declare an indefinite strike if their demands remain unmet.

“Ours will not be the ‘mother of all strikes’; it will be the grandfather of all strikes,” Ibrahim said. “When SSANU or NASU strike, you know what it means. We must take our destinies in our hands.”

He also lamented the worsening condition of non-academic staff in universities, describing them as “the worst hit financially, economically, and psychologically.”

Both SSANU and NASU have been in prolonged disagreement with the Federal Government over issues relating to staff welfare, funding, and the implementation of existing agreements, like Academic staff union of universities ( ASUU)