ASUU Suspends Two-Week Warning Strike, Gives Federal Government One-Month Ultimatums

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its two-week warning strike, granting the Federal Government a one-month ultimatum to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and resolve other lingering issues affecting public universities.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, announced the decision on Wednesday during a press briefing in Abuja, stating that the suspension followed “fruitful engagements” with government officials and decisive intervention from the National Assembly.
Piwuna recalled that the union declared the warning strike on October 13, 2025, due to the government’s failure to act on repeated appeals concerning the long-delayed renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement and other welfare-related matters.
“When we gathered here about 10 days ago to painfully declare a warning strike, it was a decision that left us with no other choice. The government had ignored our repeated overtures to address issues critical to the survival of Nigeria’s public universities,” he said.
According to Piwuna, the government reopened discussions with ASUU following the strike, appointing a team led by Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, which met with union representatives on October 16 and 18 to deliberate on the government’s response to the draft renegotiated agreement.
He noted that while the meetings did not produce full resolution, they marked significant progress compared to the pre-strike period.
“We have not achieved all our objectives, but we are certainly not where we were before the strike began. This shows that had the government responded earlier, there would have been no need for the action,” he added.
The ASUU president commended the intervention of the Senate Committees on Tertiary Education and TETFund, and Labour, as well as the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, for mediating between the union and the government.
Following an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held from October 21–22, 2025, the union resolved to suspend the strike, noting that the action had achieved its immediate purpose by compelling the government to return to the negotiation table.
“While noting that more work remains to be done, NEC resolved to suspend the warning strike to allow for a conducive atmosphere for further engagement,” Piwuna announced.
He said the decision was taken in consideration of students, parents, the media, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and other stakeholders who had shown solidarity and appealed for restraint.
However, ASUU warned that if the government failed to meet its commitments within the next one month, the union would resume strike action without further notice.
“The struggle continues,” Piwuna declared. “We call on all patriotic Nigerians to prevail on the government to honour its commitments to guarantee industrial harmony and ensure stability in the academic calendar.”