JGN Onyekpe
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its two-week warning strike declared on Monday, October 13, 2025. The suspension was announced on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, by the National President of the union, Professor Chris Piwuna, at the end of the union’s emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja.
Many members of the union nationwide are agitated by the news, as the union’s core demands are yet to be met. However, it is very important that members continue to have confidence in their leaders and appreciate the reasonableness of their actions. What is expected of members at this stage of the struggle is to embrace the virtues of calmness, faith, and optimism.
It should not be forgotten that it was a warning strike, the aim of which was to get the Federal Government back to the negotiation table. In fact, the two-week ultimatum before the warning strike was for the purpose of getting the government to resume negotiations. The government’s late response to the ultimatum was what led to the declaration of the warning strike as earlier scheduled.
Now, negotiation is underway. Academic staff salaries are, for the first time, in the public domain, with different interest and informed groups in society expressing solidarity with ASUU. The National Assembly is now involved and, more particularly, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is in solidarity with ASUU and other university-based staff unions. The NLC has given the Federal Government a four-week ultimatum to resolve all the contending issues.
The Federal Government has begun to address minor, tokenistic issues such as the non-remittance of third-party deductions, promotion arrears, and others. It has released ₦50 billion as revitalization funds. The important thing for members to note is that the issue of salaries and allowances has not been concluded. ASUU has rejected the offer of a 35% increase in salaries. This remains the major issue.
It is hoped that the four-week window given by the NLC and now reinforced by the suspension of the two-week warning strike will not be squandered by the Federal Government. Negotiation is ongoing. ASUU is on course. The national leaders of ASUU have responsibly yielded to appeals from many interest groups that the warning strike be suspended to create a conducive atmosphere for the ongoing negotiation.
ASUU has not, by the suspension of the warning strike, accepted the 35% salary increase offered or awarded by the Federal Government. The union is sticking to collective bargaining towards a meaningful and realistic salary structure for university academic staff. The ball is now in the court of the Federal Government.
In announcing the suspension of the strike, the President of ASUU clearly stated that should the Federal Government fail to resolve the outstanding issues within the four-week period of grace allowed for the purpose, the union would resume its suspended strike action “without further notice.”
Prof. Nkem Onyekpe, FHSN
University of Lagos, Akoka.
Leave a Reply