Academic activities in Nigerian public universities were grounded on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, after members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) protested unpaid salaries.
ASUU members who are also lecturers during the nationwide protest lamented unpaid salaries, demanding the immediate payment of withheld salaries, wage arrears, and the implementation of the long-overdue 2009 agreement.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the ASUU protest was held across institutions like the University of Abuja, University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Obafemi Awolowo University, and many other universities.
At the University of Jos, ASUU protested against unpaid salaries and the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme.
ASUU branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, said the initiative was not a solution but a deliberate attempt to push lecturers deeper into financial hardship.
“How can the government ask us to borrow money to pay for healthcare, school fees, and basic needs when it is still owing us withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears?” he asked.
At the University of Lagos, ASUU members who joined the nationwide protest demanded better treatment of lecturers and the education sector.
Similarly, the chairman of the union at the Federal University Gusau, Abdulrahman Adamu, who led the protest, lamented what he described as the government’s neglect of Nigerian universities.
He also lamented that funding has been left solely to TETFUND while academic staff continue to face various forms of hardship.
The National body of ASUU, in a statement issued by the National President, Christopher Piwuna, had raised an alarm that lecturers across the country were being pushed to the brink by worsening conditions.
Piwuna said: “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.”
