By Adesina Wahab & Joseph Erunke
After a lull in the wave of incessant strikes in the Nigerian public university system, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday declared a two-week warning strike, alleging federal government’s reluctance to meet their demands, despite efforts by federal government officials to meet with the union to avert the action.
The warning strike, which commences midnight yesterday, was announced by the National President of the union, Prof. Chris Piwuna, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, though another academic staff union in the university system, the Congress of University Academics, CONUA, said its members would be at their desks, as there was no reason for them to go on strike.
It was learned that having got wind of the union’s decision to embark on warning strike today, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, his counterpart in the Labour Ministry, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, immediately convened a meeting with the union officials who, it was learned, remained evasive last night.
Declaring the position of ASUU, Piwuna said the action became necessary because FG failed to meet their demands after a 14-day ultimatum earlier issued lapsed.
However,the National President of CONUA, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, also stated his union’s position in a chat with one of our correspondents yesterday.
But ASUU President, Piwuna, said if after the two-week warning strike, government failed to meet their demands, what would follow would be a total and comprehensive strike.
Prof. Piwuna said: “It is regrettable to note that nothing significant has happened since our last briefing on the eight issues in dispute.
‘’The unresolved issues include the conclusion and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement; payment of withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries; sustainable funding and revitalisation of public universities and an end to the victimisation of lecturers in LASU, KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University), and FUTO and others.
Prof. Piwuna noted that despite several appeals and assurances from government officials, including a letter dated September 30, 2025, from the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, nothing tangible had been achieved.
He disclosed that the outcome of an emergency meeting of the FGN/ASUU 2009 Agreement Renegotiation Committee held on October 10 was disappointing, describing the documents presented by the government as “provocative and inconsistent” with previous drafts.
“The hurriedly packaged documents were a total departure from the spirit of the Nimi Briggs-led renegotiated agreement and incapable of dousing industrial tension across campuses,” the ASUU president said.
“ASUU’s National Executive Council, NEC, has directed all its branches nationwide to withdraw their services effective 12:01 a.m. Monday, October 13, 2025,” he insisted.
Our members not on strike – CONUA
However, the National President of CONUA, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, told Vanguard that his union had no issue with the government to warrant it declaring a trade dispute.
While noting that ASUU’s strike could be counter-productive in the end, he said: “We held congresses across our branches nationwide recently and it was the decision of the members that there is nothing to declare a trade dispute for.
‘’We also held a meeting with the government team, which included the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, on September 11, 2025.
“We just want the vice chancellors of various universities and the federal government to respect our decision and take note that CONUA members nationwide are not on strike and we have not declared any,” he stated.
NANS wants quick resolution
Speaking on the development, the National Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Comrade Adeyemi Samson Ajasa, explained the steps taken by the association to avert the current situation.
‘’The current National President of NANS is from the University of Jos, just like the current National President of ASUU. We tried to exploit that. We also met with the Minister of Education on the matter,’’ he said.
Ajasa called for a quick resolution of the dispute:
How ASUU strike aborted talks on 2009 Agreement
Meanwhile, barely hours after the Federal government renewed its commitment to resolving all pending issues with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, through dialogue, but the union stunned FG officials by declaring a nationwide strike, a move that government insiders now describe as a calculated act of sabotage.
According to reliable sources, following a crucial meeting held on Friday, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and the FG negotiating team had noted ASUU’s concerns about welfare, conditions of service and other depends, and immediately relayed them to the President from whom positive indications were already secured.
However, credible sources hinted that events that followed revealed a deliberate breakdown of communication, not from government, but from ASUU’s end.
After the Friday session, Senator Lekan Tejuoso, the Deputy Chairman of the FG Negotiating Team representing the expanded negotiating panel, began reaching out to ASUU’s leadership to arrange an urgent physical meeting aimed at preventing the strike.
Senator Lekan Tejuoso, a former lawmaker and university pro-chancellor, is standing in for Dr Yayale Ahmed (who wasn’t in town this weekend) the leader of the 53-member re-negotiation committee set up to review the 2009 FG–ASUU agreement.
Government officials say the panel had prepared updated proposals to address the lecturers’ key demands, including salary adjustments, funding of universities, and pending allowances.
According to the official, this has been presented to ASUU and the FG team was awaiting the official response of the university teachers.
But ASUU allegedly declined the government’s request for a physical, face-to-face dialogue, saying their negotiating team members had left town.
In fact, Senator Tejuoso personally called ASUU President, Prof. Chris Pinuwa, proposing a Sunday meeting as a compromise.
However, multiple calls said to have been placed to Prof. Chris Piwuna from Friday night through Saturday, were not answered, until after ASUU publicly declared the strike is coming to effect.
According to a senior official familiar with the exchange, “the government had shown good faith. The President gave the go-ahead, the minister acted swiftly, and the negotiating panel was on standby. But ASUU simply shut the door on dialogue.”
Government sources insist that the strike was pre-planned, not a reaction to any stalemate, accusing ASUU of bad faith and deliberate sabotage.
“They refused a physical meeting, ignored the mediator’s calls, and went ahead to announce a strike while negotiation lines were still open,” one top official said.
This move, according to the Federal Ministry of Education, undermines the goodwill shown by President Tinubu, who only days earlier had approved the reconstitution of the expanded negotiating panel to fast-track solutions to long-standing university staff issues.
Observers say ASUU’s action effectively cut off dialogue just when the government was ready to deliver concrete commitments.
The sudden strike has thrown thousands of university students into confusion once again, reviving memories of previous academic shutdowns that crippled the sector for months.
Critics argue that ASUU’s refusal to engage, despite fresh assurances from the government, reveals a pattern of confrontation, rather than collaboration, one that continually hurts students, parents and Nigeria’s already strained educational system.
The government maintains that the door to dialogue remains open, but the latest turn of events has raised serious questions about ASUU’s sincerity.
While the federal government says it has done everything possible to prevent another disruption, it now appears that the union’s leadership had other plans, plans that prioritised protest over progress.
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