AWKA, Nigeria — The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Owerri Zone, has warned that it will commence an indefinite nationwide strike on Friday, November 21, 2025, if the federal government fails to address long-standing issues relating to salaries, welfare, and the renegotiation of university working conditions.
The warning was issued on Thursday, November 13, 2025, during a press conference held at the ASUU–Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Secretariat in Awka.
The union’s position was contained in a statement signed by the zonal coordinator, Professor Dennis Aribodor.
Universities within the zone include Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State University, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
Aribodor said the press briefing was intended to alert stakeholders that “time is running out” to avert another shutdown of public universities.
“Please recall that ASUU, out of respect for students, parents, the media, the Nigeria Labour Congress, and other well-meaning Nigerians, reviewed the then ongoing two-week warning strike declared on Monday, October 13, 2025 and resolved to suspend the strike action on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, five days before the expiration of the two-week period,” he said.
“The union gave a one-month window to government to resolve all issues. Eight days to the end of this one-month window, where are we?”
He accused the government of continually failing to prioritise the education sector, treating it “as a commercial good that must be self-sustaining instead of a social good that guarantees peace, progress, and national development”.
Aribodor said the union rejected the government’s proposed salary increment, describing it as “an insult to Nigerian university academic staff”.
He argued that the offer would neither motivate lecturers nor stem the “perennial brain drain” weakening public universities.
He criticised what he called government misrepresentation of offers and “selective implementation” of agreements to score political points, saying partial payment of promotion arrears dating back to 2017 and the release of long-delayed third-party deductions were “mere confidence measures” rather than substantive progress.
“The government’s objective must not be to win the narrative but to solve the real problems,” he said.
The union insisted that sufficient revenue exists to meet its demands.
Aribodor cited Federal Accounts Allocation Committee figures showing that state government allocations rose from ₦3.92 trillion in 2022 to ₦5.81 trillion in 2024, while federal allocations increased from ₦3.42 trillion to ₦4.65 trillion within the same period.
“It is political will — or lack thereof — and not economic factors that have undermined the resolution of this renegotiation process,” he argued.
ASUU Owerri Zone called on traditional rulers, religious leaders, students, the NLC, civil society organisations, and the media to pressure the government to “give lecturers a living wage” before the one-month window expires.
The union listed its minimum demands for averting a strike: full payment of all outstanding arrears, including the 25–35 percent wage award, three and a half months of withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and all outstanding third-party deductions.
“These are our minimum demands to avoid the resumption of the suspended strike and to ensure industrial harmony in our universities,” Aribodor said.
As of press time, the federal government had not responded to the union’s ultimatum.
