The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) issued a fresh ultimatum on Monday, warning that lecturers in 11 state-owned universities could down tools indefinitely if seven state governments fail to fully implement the 2025 Federal Government/ASUU Agreement before the end of July.
The warning, delivered through coordinated press briefings by the union’s Benin and Yola zones, targets the governments of Edo, Delta, Ondo, Adamawa, Borno, Taraba, and Yobe states, all of which ASUU accuses of dragging their feet six months after putting pen to paper on the agreement.
Speaking on behalf of the Benin zone, Prof. Monday Igbafen did not mince words, disclosing that ASUU branches across the affected campuses have already begun quietly mobilizing members in readiness for what he described as a total shutdown of academic activities should the deadline pass unmet.
Igbafen pointed out the inconsistency in compliance, noting that federal universities and several state-run institutions had honored the agreement, leaving the seven states named conspicuously behind in settling the Consolidated Academic and Technologists Allowance (CATA), other approved allowances, and salary arrears dating back to January 2026.
The roll call of institutions at risk reads like a cross-section of the country’s regional university system: Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma and Dennis Osadebay University in Asaba represent the South-South, alongside Delta State University, Abraka, University of Delta, Agbor, and Southern Delta University, Ozoro. From the South-West come Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, and Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa.
The northern flank is represented by Adamawa State University, Mubi, Borno State University, Maiduguri, Taraba State University, Jalingo, and Yobe State University, Damaturu.
In a parallel briefing, Yola Zonal Coordinator Comrade Dani Mamman painted a picture of mounting frustration on affected campuses, describing an atmosphere thick with tension as lecturers watch months pass without resolution.
Mamman characterized the inaction as not merely an administrative oversight but an outright violation of collective bargaining principles, insisting that the union’s members were asking for nothing beyond what had already been negotiated and agreed upon in good faith.
Both zonal leaders were emphatic that the threatened action is not borne of impatience but of necessity, framing the looming strike as a last resort that could still be avoided if the governors involved act swiftly.
The union’s appeal was direct: settle the outstanding allowances and arrears, honor the terms of the agreement, and spare hundreds of thousands of students another round of academic disruption.
With the end-of-July deadline now firmly on the calendar, attention turns to the seven state capitals to see whether their governments will move to defuse the standoff or risk plunging another batch of public universities into the kind of prolonged shutdown that has, in recent years, become a recurring and costly feature of Nigeria’s higher education sector.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
ASUU’s threat boils down to one core issue: seven state governments, Edo, Delta, Ondo, Adamawa, Borno, Taraba, and Yobe, have failed to implement the 2025 FG/ASUU Agreement six months after signing it, leaving lecturers in 11 state universities unpaid on CATA, allowances, and arrears since January 2026.
Unless these governors act before the end of July, an indefinite strike affecting these institutions appears imminent, with students once again bearing the brunt of a dispute rooted in unmet financial commitments rather than new demands.
