ASUU gives federal government four-day ultimatum over lecturers’ pay
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a four-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, demanding the immediate implementation of a newly approved salary structure for university lecturers nationwide.
ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, made this known on Thursday while speaking at a public lecture held at Sa’adu Zungur University, Yuli Campus, in Bauchi State.
He said the agreement on the revised salary package was reached in December 2025, with implementation scheduled for January 2026, but lamented that the government had yet to act.
“We have issued a four-day ultimatum from today to the Federal Government to begin the payment of the newly approved salary structure. Failure to comply will attract a strong response from the union,” Piwuna said.
He criticised what he described as the Federal Government’s habitual failure to honour agreements, noting that this pattern has fuelled repeated disputes and industrial actions in the university system.
Piwuna also pushed back against plans linked to President Bola Tinubu’s recent visit to London to establish a Nigerian branch of Coventry University. He argued that such a move would undermine the value of local institutions and described it as a form of “colonialism” within Nigeria’s education sector.
According to him, ASUU would resist the proposal, insisting that the government should instead prioritise strengthening domestic universities. He added that the planned expansion comes at a time when the UK-based institution is experiencing declining global admission applications.
The ASUU president urged authorities to work with the union to improve the quality and capacity of Nigerian universities to meet current and future educational demands.
The latest ultimatum follows a series of recent tensions. On March 11, 2026, ASUU directed members in some branches to withdraw their services over delays in the payment of June 2025 salary arrears and challenges linked to the transition to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
In late 2025, the union had issued multiple ultimatums, including 14-day and one-month notices, pressing the government to conclude the renegotiation and implementation of the long-standing 2009 ASUU–Federal Government agreement.
Meanwhile, on March 25, 2026, federal civil servants outside ASUU also threatened nationwide industrial action over outstanding wage awards, underlining broader labour unrest across Nigeria’s public sector.