ASUU suspends two-week warning strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has announced the suspension of its two-week warning strike, giving the Federal Government a one-month window to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and address other unresolved issues affecting the nation’s university system.

President of the union, Prof. Chris Piwuna, disclosed this on Wednesday during a press briefing in Abuja, where he explained that the suspension followed fruitful engagements with the Federal Government and key interventions from the National Assembly.

Piwuna recalled that ASUU had declared the warning strike on October 13, 2025, after what he described as the government’s failure to respond to several appeals to address the lingering renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and other welfare-related concerns of university lecturers.

He said, “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.”

The ASUU president revealed that following the commencement of the strike, the Federal Government re-engaged the union through a team led by Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, which met with ASUU representatives on October 16 and 18, to discuss the government’s response to the draft renegotiated agreement.

According to him, although the meetings did not fully resolve all issues, the union recognised that significant progress had been made compared to the pre-strike period.

He said, “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.”

Piwuna also commended the intervention of the Senate Committees on Tertiary Education and TETFund, and Labour, as well as the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, whose mediation, he said, had rekindled hope for a lasting resolution.

He stated that the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU, after an emergency meeting held from October 21–22, 2025, reviewed the situation and concluded that the warning strike had achieved part of its purpose, particularly in 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 explained that the decision was taken in deference to students, parents, the media, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and other well-meaning Nigerians who had shown solidarity and mediated in the dispute.

ASUU, however, warned that should the government fail to resolve the outstanding issues within the one-month window, the union would be left with no option but to resume strike action without further notice.

“The struggle continues,” Piwuna declared, calling on patriotic Nigerians to prevail on the government to honour its commitments to guarantee industrial harmony and ensure stability in the academic calendar.

Vanguard Newspaper Nigeria