ASUU Strike Returns: Nigeria Is Still Trapped in the Same University Strike Cycle

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared indefinite strikes at Imo State University and Nasarawa State University, Keffi, disrupting academic activities over unpaid salaries, promotion arrears and other outstanding entitlements. At the same time, ASUU has authorized branches in about 20 other universities to issue 14-day strike ultimatums over the failure to implement the 2025 agreement between the union and government.

But the most frustrating part of this latest crisis is how familiar it feels.

Nigeria has been here before. ASUU strikes. Government negotiates. An agreement is signed. The strike is suspended. Implementation drags. Students return to class. The unresolved issues remain. Then another strike begins.

The 2022 national strike is perhaps the clearest example. It lasted roughly eight months and centered on issues including university funding, earned allowances, revitalization and the implementation of previous agreements. The strike eventually ended without all the fundamental disputes being resolved, leaving several issues to be renegotiated.

Now, only months after a new FGN-ASUU agreement was signed, the same problem is resurfacing. That suggests Nigeria’s university crisis is not simply a disagreement between lecturers and government. It is a credibility problem.

What is the value of negotiating an agreement if there is no reliable mechanism to ensure that both sides actually implement what they signed?

The current dispute also shows how complicated state universities make the situation. While the Federal Government is party to national agreements with ASUU, individual state universities can face separate problems involving salaries, promotion arrears and funding. At Imo State University, for example, the immediate dispute includes alleged unpaid salaries and promotion arrears.

And once lecturers walk out, students pay the price. Graduation dates move. Academic calendars become unpredictable. Students who are already spending years completing degrees lose even more time. Some eventually move to private universities, while others simply wait.

There is a possible way out, but it requires something governments have repeatedly struggled to provide: enforceability.

Instead of waiting for another strike before negotiating, agreements need clear timelines, funding commitments, monitoring mechanisms and consequences for non-compliance. Researchers have similarly argued that key ASUU agreements should be incorporated into enforceable policy or legislative frameworks rather than left vulnerable to repeated renegotiation.

Otherwise, the pattern will remain painfully predictable. Strike. Negotiation. Promise. Suspension. Non-implementation. Another strike. And another generation of Nigerian students loses time.