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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has ordered its members across the country to withdraw their services, citing the federal government’s continued delay in paying their June 2025 salaries.
This decision stems from the union’s standing “No Pay, No Work” policy, which mandates industrial action whenever salaries remain unpaid for more than three days.
Already, lecturers at the University of Jos and the University of Abuja have downed tools in compliance with the directive.
ASUU President, Professor Chris Piwuna, confirmed the development in Abuja on Monday. He explained that the ongoing strikes were not new decisions by individual branches but rather an enforcement of a resolution adopted by the union’s National Executive Council (NEC).
He criticised the government for what he described as a persistent display of indifference towards lecturers’ welfare, pointing out that despite the modesty of university teachers’ salaries, authorities have continued to withhold payments without justification.
Piwuna further noted that the problem worsened after the government migrated university payroll from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), resulting in repeated delays that have plunged many lecturers into hardship.
He revealed that efforts by the union’s leadership to resolve the issue through meetings with top government officials, including the Minister of Education and the Accountant General of the Federation, have failed to yield results, leaving the union with no choice but to enforce its “No Pay, No Work” stance.
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He said: “What they are doing is just enforcing a NEC resolution. We have agreed at NEC that our members are going through a lot since our migration out of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System. Certainly, our salaries are delayed for a week and sometimes 10 days before our members receive the paltry amount we get to help us carry out our duties well.
“Therefore, we agreed that if there is no pay, there will be no work,” Piwuna said.
“On whether other universities are joining the strike, the ASUU President said all institutions that have not been paid are expected to withdraw their services, insisting that this was the resolution at NEC and the only way to address the challenge, which he noted was being deliberately caused by some government officials, especially at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
Professor Chris Piwuna has warned that any university still awaiting its June salary payment would inevitably join the ongoing industrial action, stressing that lecturers have grown weary of the government’s persistent negligence.
“We are done repeating ourselves on this matter,” he declared, adding that despite notifying all relevant offices, including the Minister of Education and the Office of the Accountant General, the issue continues unabated.
According to him, ASUU leadership has held multiple meetings to communicate its frustration over the recurring delays, but no concrete solution has been provided. “Everyone involved is aware of the hardship these delays cause, yet nothing has been done,” he lamented.
Professor Piwuna further dismissed any suggestion of technical problems on the payment platform, arguing that once funds are released, universities process salaries without hiccups or shortfalls. “This clearly shows the delay is intentional. The problem is not with GIFMIS or any payment system—it is simply the Accountant General’s office withholding our salaries for reasons best known to them,” he said.
He concluded that lecturers are ready and willing to teach but are being forced into inaction by the government’s failure to fulfil its basic obligation of timely salary payment.
