The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has faulted the Federal and state governments over the continued withholding of three-and-a-half months’ salaries owed university lecturers and what it described as uneven implementation of the December 2025 agreement.
ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, made the remarks while speaking on a radio programme.
Piwuna said the union had expected the agreement reached with the Federal Government to bring greater stability to Nigeria’s public university system, improve lecturers’ welfare and address longstanding challenges affecting the sector.
He, however, expressed disappointment that some provisions of the agreement had either not been implemented or were being implemented inconsistently by federal and state authorities.
The ASUU president said the agreement covers improved remuneration, funding for public universities and research support, but maintained that implementation had fallen short of the union’s expectations.
A major concern, according to him, remains the unpaid balance of salaries withheld during the 2022 industrial dispute. Of the seven-and-a-half months withheld under the previous administration, the Federal Government has paid four months, leaving three-and-a-half months outstanding. ASUU has continued to demand payment of the balance.
Piwuna also raised concerns over the implementation of the new salary structure, saying some universities were still struggling to apply the agreed provisions while lecturers in some institutions continued to face uncertainty over salary payments.
He said funding was also not being released in line with the agreement, with some universities allegedly having to resort to industrial action before salary-related issues were addressed.
The ASUU president stressed that the implementation challenge was not limited to the Federal Government, noting that state governments also had obligations concerning state-owned universities.
He said some states had commenced implementation while others had yet to fully comply, resulting in differences in the conditions of service across public universities.
Piwuna specifically cited Abia State Governor Alex Otti as an example of a governor who had embraced the implementation of the agreement. ASUU had earlier also acknowledged Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Borno as states where implementation had commenced.
He said the union had continued to engage government officials through meetings and correspondence rather than immediately resorting to industrial action, adding that ASUU had repeatedly drawn attention to the outstanding issues.
The dispute comes amid a wider warning by ASUU that it could reactivate its suspended nationwide strike if the outstanding issues are not satisfactorily addressed. The union said its concerns include unpaid salaries, unremitted deductions and what it described as non- or haphazard implementation of the 2025 agreement.
On education funding, Piwuna said inadequate financing remained a major challenge for Nigeria’s public universities, particularly in research and infrastructure.
He argued that governments should treat education as a major instrument of national development, adding that ASUU had shown willingness to compromise during negotiations over the proportion of government budgets allocated to education.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government says it has commenced implementation of key components of the 2025 agreement, including the 40 per cent upward review of academic staff remuneration and the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance. The Ministry of Education announced in February that the salary adjustment was effective from January 1, 2026, while further funding for the allowance was announced in September.
Piwuna maintained that ASUU remained open to dialogue with both federal and state governments, but warned that continued failure to resolve the outstanding issues could deepen tensions across the university system.
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