A brewing crisis is looming across Nigerian Federal universities as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set to hold a nationwide protest.
The union has declared Tuesday, August 26, 2025, as the day of its nationwide protest to press home its demands for better welfare and working conditions for lecturers.
The union made this disclosure in a press statement signed by Christopher Piwuna, ASUU President.
According to the statement, ASUU’s nationwide protest is due to the alleged neglect of issues affecting academics in public universities.
The statement reads: “Tuesday, 26th August 2025, has been declared a day of protest across all campuses to express our strong dissatisfaction with the government’s persistent neglect of our demands.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the decision of ASUU to hold a nationwide protest came after an initial warning to the Nigerian government to look into its grievances.
Recall that on August 8, 2025, ASUU President, Piwuna, in a press release titled “Act Now to Avert the Looming Crisis”, warned that lecturers across the country were being pushed to the brink by worsening conditions.
In the statement, Piwuna pointed out unpaid arrears, stalled renegotiation of the 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement, poor funding of institutions, and the politicisation of Vice-Chancellor appointments as key grievances.
He also criticised government flip-flops on agreements, the use of IPPIS for salary payments, and the failure to respect collective bargaining principles under international labour conventions. According to him, the neglect has left lecturers “forgotten, shamed, and demoralised.”
He said then: “Every major ASUU dispute since 2012 stems from government failure to honour the 2009 Agreement’s provisions on conditions of service, funding, autonomy, academic freedom, and related legislative reforms. Governments pick and choose which aspects to implement, disregarding lecturers’ morale and essential needs. Efforts to attract academics abroad as “volunteers” under a “Diaspora Bridge” are hypocritical without addressing the foundational issues.
“Governments have deceived and frustrated lecturers, pushing them toward strikes, withholding salaries, and promoting corruption-prone systems like IPPIS while punishing those who opt out. Many lecturers’ promotions remain unpaid for years. This undervaluing of intellectual assets undermines hopes for a knowledge-driven economy.
“ASUU also condemns the politicisation of Vice-Chancellor appointments, citing attempts to reinstate the Acting VC of Alvan Ikoku University of Education despite questionable promotions. Similar cases are emerging in other federal universities.
“ASUU calls on all patriots to press the Federal and State Governments to resolve lingering labour issues in the university system. Nigerian academics are tired of repeated MoUs/MoAs (2013, 2017, 2019, 2020) and prolonged negotiations on the 2009.”
This development has already been generating reactions from Nigerian students who have expressed concerns that another round of nationwide strike could disrupt their learning.
Below are some of the reactions;
