by Idara Aloysius
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced the commencement of a two-week warning strike, beginning at midnight on Monday, October 13, 2025, following what it described as the Federal Government’s consistent failure to address its long-standing demands.
The union declared this inevitable decision in a memo released on Sunday, October 12, 2025, after an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU held at the Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja.
ASUU’s grievances, as stated in the memo, include the Federal Government’s failure to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, non-payment of withheld salaries spanning three and a half months, poor funding of public universities, and continued victimisation of lecturers at some universities, such as LASU, KSU, and FUTO.
According to the memo, the warning strike follows a 14-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government on September 28, 2025, which expired without any tangible action from authorities.
“It is regrettable to note that nothing significant has happened to change the position of NEC since we last briefed the Press,” part of the memo read
ASUU further highlighted how, in a letter dated 30th September, 2025, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, on behalf of the government, appealed to the Union to withdraw the notice of the 14-day ultimatum.
However, the response ASUU got on Friday, 10th October, at an emergency meeting of the FGN/ASUU 2009 Agreement Renegotiation Committee held on Friday, 10th October, 2025, was nothing to write home about.
The Union criticised the Federal Government for what they described as a “characteristic game of deception and manipulation,” arguing that government appeals for more time have yielded no results.
“It is a betrayal of historic responsibility if we continue to fall for the government’s deception,” the memo read
Consequently, ASUU maintained its stance, pointing out that there’s nothing sufficient on the ground to stop the implementation of the ASUU-NEC’s 14-day warning strike. Therefore the union directed all its branches to withdraw their services on Monday, 13th October,2025, as agreed in the last NEC meeting
