The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has commenced a total and comprehensive two-week warning strike across all public universities in Nigeria.
The union’s National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, announced the decision during a press briefing on Sunday at the University of Abuja.
According to Piwuna, there has been “no meaningful progress to prevent the union from moving forward with its planned industrial action.”
He noted that the 14-day ultimatum issued on September 28, 2025, expired without any tangible response from the government.
All ASUU branches nationwide, he said, have been directed to fully withdraw their services starting midnight, Monday, October 13, 2025.
Piwuna added that the action would be “total and comprehensive,” reflecting the resolution reached during the union’s most recent National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
ASUU had earlier given the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to meet its demands or face industrial action.
Following its NEC meeting on September 28, the union accused the government of neglecting the university system and ignoring repeated calls for reform.
“Apart from engagement with the press, in August 2025, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in both federal and state universities held rallies, carrying placards, on their campuses to press the government to address the lingering issues in the university system.
“Nothing came out of all these rallies and pleas. What is clear for now is that both the federal and state governments have a strong habit of paying little or no attention to the education sector in general and the welfare of university academics in particular,” ASUU stated.
In response, the Federal Government appealed to ASUU to reconsider its strike plans, assuring that steps were being taken to address outstanding issues.
During a press conference in Abuja last Wednesday, Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the government was already working on the union’s demands and that progress was being made in ongoing negotiations.
Alausa explained that the Mahmud Yayale Ahmed Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee had been reconstituted and inaugurated to speed up talks with academic and non-academic unions in tertiary institutions.
He also noted that President Bola Tinubu had directed that all necessary measures be taken to prevent further disruptions in the university calendar.
However, ASUU rejected the government’s plea, insisting that the appeal was made too late to change the union’s course of action.
“The problem we have with this government and this Ministry of Education is that they are slow in responding to our demands,” ASUU President Chris Piwuna said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.
“We went for a meeting in Sokoto, and at that time we were about to embark on a strike action. They gave us three weeks, we accepted the three weeks, but we never heard a word from them until the three weeks elapsed — not a word from them, courtesy to even say, ‘Oh gentlemen, we think we are running short, three weeks is around the corner, we are unable to meet with you on so-and-so date.’ Nothing, until we threatened action.
“Yesterday, they appealed to us not to embark on action. Our 2009 agreement — which is still being renegotiated after eight years — remains undone. We have not concluded on it, and two working days before a strike action, you come to appeal to us. I think the appeal has come a little too late.”
Piwuna maintained that the union would proceed with its strike at the end of its ultimatum unless the government takes swift action to meet its demands.
