ASUU Strike Spreads to More State Universities as AAU, IBBU Lecturers Withdraw Services
By Cynthia Okere, Lagos
The industrial dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and some state governments has widened, with lecturers at Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger State, commencing indefinite strikes over unresolved demands.
The latest actions are linked largely to the implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement in state-owned universities, as more branches press their governments and university authorities to address outstanding welfare and funding issues.
At AAU, the ASUU branch began an indefinite strike on Tuesday, August 25, following the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum issued to the university management and Edo State Government.
The union is demanding full implementation of the 2025 agreement as well as payment of accrued allowances which it says have been outstanding since January 2026.
The withdrawal affects lectures, examinations, supervision of students’ research projects and other statutory academic and administrative responsibilities.
The AAU branch said attempts to secure implementation of the agreement through engagement with the university authorities and state government had not produced the desired result.
The university management, however, clarified that the dispute should not be interpreted as being caused by an inability to pay salaries, saying the strike principally relates to issues arising from implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement.
A similar situation has emerged at IBBU in Lapai, where the ASUU branch declared an indefinite strike following an emergency congress on Monday, August 24.
Branch Chairman, Galadima Bala, said the action followed the Niger State Government’s failure to implement critical components of the agreement despite several engagements and appeals by the union.
Among the outstanding issues listed by the IBBU branch are the 40 per cent Earned Academic Allowance, professorial and leave allowances, pension refunds and accumulated Earned Academic Allowance arrears dating to 2009.
Bala warned that continued delays could worsen the loss of experienced lecturers from the institution, but said the union remained open to meaningful dialogue and could end the strike once there was concrete action towards resolving the dispute.
The actions at AAU and IBBU come after ASUU’s National Executive Council authorised branches in about 20 universities to begin processes towards industrial action over what the union described as inadequate implementation of the 2025 agreement.
The decision followed ASUU’s NEC meeting held at the University of Abuja on August 8 and 9, after which affected branches were expected to issue ultimatums before proceeding with industrial action where their demands remained unresolved.
The growing number of disputes has raised fresh concerns about disruption of academic calendars in affected state universities, with students likely to bear the immediate impact if negotiations between the unions, university authorities and state governments fail to produce agreements.