Another total shutdown of universities in Nigeria looms as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has directed all its branches nationwide to suspend their services due to the delay in the payment of June 2025 salaries.
Already, two universities in the country have complied with the directive.
They are University of Jos and the University of Abuja.
More universities are expected to join the action in the coming days.
The union said it was implementing its “No Pay, No Work” resolution.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, confirmed the development to Tribune.
Piwuna said the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), had mandated that if salaries were delayed by more than three days in any month, members should suspend their services until the payments were made.
Piwuna criticized the indifferent attitude of government officials toward the matter of lecturers’ salaries, which he described as meager.
He noted that ever since university workers were moved from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), union members have faced considerable hardship as a result of delayed salary payments.
He revealed that the union’s leadership had engaged with key government officials, including the Minister of Education and the Accountant General of the Federation, but these efforts yielded no positive outcome. Consequently, the ASUU NEC decided to implement the “No Pay, No Work” policy.
He pointed out that although the Federal Government was obligated to pay lecturers N50 billion in outstanding Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), it has so far released only N40 billion, leaving an unpaid balance of N10 billion.
Meanwhile, Jurbe Molwus, Chairman of the ASUU branch at the University of Jos, confirmed that union members at the institution had withdrawn their services due to the delay in receiving their June 2025 salaries.
ASUU has been at loggerheads with the Nigerian Government since 1999.
The document, which has faced a series of re-negotiations, is yet to witness full implementation by successive administrations.