Leccturers Begin Two-Week Total Shutdown Despite Government Promises By Peter Dansu For the first time since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as...
Leccturers Begin Two-Week Total Shutdown Despite Government Promises
By Peter Dansu
For the first time since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared a nationwide strike, signaling renewed tension in Nigeria’s public university system.
The union announced a two-week total and comprehensive warning strike across all federal and state universities, beginning midnight Monday, October 13, 2025.
ASUU’s National President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, made the declaration during a press briefing at the University of Abuja on Sunday, stating that the decision followed the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum earlier issued to the Federal Government.
“Compatriots of the press, it goes without saying that there is nothing sufficient on ground to stop the implementation of the ASUU-NEC’s resolution to embark on a two-week warning strike at the expiry of the 14-day notice given on the 28th of September, 2025,” Piwuna announced.
“Consequently, all branches of ASUU are hereby directed to withdraw their services with effect from midnight on Monday. The warning strike shall be total and comprehensive,” he added.
The industrial action comes despite assurances from the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who had only days earlier vowed that the Tinubu administration would ensure university lecturers “never go on strike again.”
Dr. Alausa had revealed that the government was in the final phase of discussions with ASUU and other university-based unions, emphasizing that “significant progress” had been made — including the release of ₦50 billion for Earned Academic Allowances and ₦150 billion budgeted for university revitalization in 2025, to be disbursed in three tranches.
However, ASUU insists that these promises have not translated into tangible action, accusing the government of dragging its feet on key aspects of the long-standing 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, particularly on funding, welfare, and infrastructural development in universities.
The fresh strike action has once again thrown Nigeria’s higher education sector into uncertainty, leaving students and parents anxious about a prolonged disruption of the academic calendar.
As negotiations continue, Nigerians are watching closely to see whether this latest standoff marks another cycle of broken promises — or the beginning of genuine reform in the nation’s beleaguered university system.
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