The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its two-week warning strike, granting the Federal Government a one-month window to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and resolve other lingering issues affecting the nation’s public universities.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, announced the decision on Wednesday during a press briefing in Abuja, explaining that the suspension followed productive engagements with government representatives and crucial interventions from the National Assembly.
The union had declared the warning strike on October 13, 2025, over the government’s failure to act on multiple appeals regarding the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement and welfare-related matters. “When we gathered here about 10 days ago to painfully declare a warning strike, it was a decision that left us with no other choice. The government had ignored our repeated overtures to address issues critical to the survival of Nigeria’s public universities,” Piwuna said.
He noted that following the commencement of the strike, the Federal Government re-engaged the union through a committee led by Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, which held meetings with ASUU on October 16 and 18 to deliberate on the draft renegotiated agreement. While the meetings did not resolve all issues, Piwuna said notable progress had been made compared to the pre-strike period.
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“We have not achieved all our objectives, but we are certainly not where we were before the strike began. This shows that had the government responded earlier, there would have been no need for the action,” he added.
Piwuna commended the intervention of the Senate Committees on Tertiary Education and TETFund, and Labour, as well as the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, whose mediation efforts, he said, rekindled hope for a lasting settlement.
He explained that the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), after an emergency meeting held from October 21 to 22, 2025, reviewed the situation and concluded that the warning strike had achieved part of its purpose by compelling the government to resume negotiations.
“While noting that more work remains to be done, NEC resolved to suspend the warning strike to allow for a conducive atmosphere for further engagement,” Piwuna said.
He emphasised that the decision was taken out of consideration for students, parents, the media, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and other Nigerians who had shown solidarity and intervened in the dispute.
ASUU, however, warned that if the government fails to address the outstanding issues within the one-month window, the union would have no option but to resume strike action without further notice.
“The struggle continues,” Piwuna declared, urging patriotic Nigerians to prevail upon the government to honour its commitments in order to ensure industrial harmony and stability in the nation’s universities.
