ASUU threatens nationwide strike as negotiation stalls

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it will resume its nationwide strike if an agreement was not reached with the Federal Government at the expiration of the union’s one-month ultimatum.

The ASUU Coordinator in Kano State, Abdulkadir Muhammad, gave the warning after the zone’s meeting in Kano on Monday, November 17, 2025.

The meeting had representatives from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; Bayero University Kano (BUK); Kaduna State University (KASU).

Others were Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUSTECH), Wudil, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Northwest University (NWU), Kano; and Sule Lamido University (SLUK), Kafin Hausa.

The lecturers in October suspended their warning strike with a month-long ultimatum to the federal government to meet its demands, which centred around their welfare and providing a conducive teaching and learning environment.

Muhammad decried what he described as a sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s public university system.

Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on November 8 and 9 at Taraba State University.

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The ASUU official said NEC expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the ongoing renegotiation between the union and the government, describing it as a major obstacle to concluding the process meaningfully.

He said the suspension of the strike in October was meant to create and enabling environment and a gesture of goodwill toward Nigerians.

Muhammad stated: “However, our hope for a holistic and timely resolution of the issues is increasingly being dashed.

“It is unfortunate that some government functionaries employ different tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of our engagements.”

The ASUU coordinator, therefore, lamented that the government had yet to show genuine commitment to improving lecturers’ welfare or addressing the conditions that fuel brain drain in the university system.

The Star