Nigerian Public Universities Face Indefinite Shutdown as Lecturers Issue Strike Ultimatum
ABUJA, Nigeria – Academic activities in Nigeria’s public universities are set to grind to a halt as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced an indefinite, total strike commencing Friday.
The union, which represents lecturers and academic staff across the country’s public higher education institutions, made the declaration in a statement posted on the social media platform X. The industrial action will proceed unless the federal government urgently meets its key demands.
Central to the dispute are issues of “fair remuneration” and “improved working conditions.” ASUU has consistently argued that the current situation has led to a crippling “ongoing exodus of academic talent” from Nigeria’s university system, a trend they are demanding must be reversed.
The breakdown in negotiations comes just weeks after the union suspended a warning strike in October. At that time, ASUU had given the government a one-month ultimatum to address longstanding concerns over staff welfare and what it describes as a “declining teaching and learning environment.”
A recent point of contention was the government’s proposed 35% salary increase, which the union has outrightly rejected as insufficient in the face of the country’s economic realities.
With the Friday deadline looming, students and parents face the prospect of another prolonged disruption to the academic calendar. The impending strike threatens to paralyze the public university system indefinitely, adding to a history of academic interruptions that have plagued the sector for years.
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