The Academic Staff Union of Universities said on Monday that the Federal Government and several state governments were distorting or failing to implement the December 2025 agreement reached with lecturers, warning that the delays could push public universities back toward industrial unrest. The warning came at the end of a four-day National Executive Council meeting in Yola.
Christopher Piwuna, the union’s president, said the disagreement was no longer about fine print but about commitments that have remained unresolved for months. He cited withheld three-and-half months’ salaries, promotion arrears, salary shortfalls linked to the IPPIS platform, unremitted third-party deductions and arrears of a 25-35% wage award as the main issues still hanging over the talks.
The meeting, held at Modibbo Adama University in Yola, came at a delicate moment for a sector already familiar with broken deadlines. The renegotiated agreement was set for implementation on January 1, 2026, and was meant to help close a 16-year impasse over the 2009 pact. It also included a 40 per cent salary increase for lecturers, improved pension benefits and revamped duty-based Earned Academic Allowances, but reported that some universities had begun implementing their parts while the Federal Government had yet to move.
Piwuna said the union’s growing frustration reflected what he described as government disinterestedness in the welfare of Nigerian academics, a mood he said could ignite a new wave of industrial unrest if nothing changes. ASUU appealed to genuine patriots, well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of Nigeria to press both federal and state authorities to fully implement the agreement, while stressing that its doors remained open for further engagement with government.
But the union also set a clear deadline for its next move. ASUU said it would call an emergency NEC meeting in the next few weeks to review the situation and take appropriate action as necessary, leaving public universities on notice that the current pause may not last much longer unless the pending demands are settled.
