The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned that Nigeria’s public universities risk another round of industrial action if federal and state governments continue to delay full implementation of the 2025 FGN–ASUU agreement.

Rising from its National Executive Council meeting at Modibbo Adama University, Yola, the union accused authorities of treating the hard-won pact in a “distorted and uncoordinated” manner, despite the fanfare that greeted its signing and public presentation.

ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, said the union had deliberately maintained “a studied silence” after the agreement was unveiled to allow government time to demonstrate good faith. That patience, he warned, is now wearing thin.

Central to ASUU’s anger is the failure to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee, a joint body expected to track and enforce the timelines and obligations contained in the agreement. Without it, the union said, ministries, agencies and university managers have cherry-picked what to implement and when.

ASUU accused many federal university administrations of selectively applying key components such as Consolidated Academic Allowances, Earned Academic Allowances and Professorial Allowances, which the agreement stipulates should be fully integrated into the Consolidated Academic Salary Structure.

The union was particularly critical of several state governments that participated in the negotiations but have allegedly refused to domesticate or implement the deal, leaving lecturers in those institutions on poorer conditions of service.

Beyond salaries and allowances, ASUU faulted the Federal Government’s plan to set up a National Research Council and a National Research and Innovation Development Fund, arguing that the proposals sidestep the agreement’s clear benchmark of at least 1 per cent of GDP for research, innovation and development. It also questioned the proposed 500 million dollar funding model and its source, warning against fresh external borrowing.

On welfare, the union listed unresolved salary arrears, promotion arrears, unremitted deductions, IPPIS-related shortfalls and withheld salaries from the 2022 strike. It decried delayed pension payments, especially in state universities, and accused the National Pension Commission of slowing benefit harmonisation.

ASUU also rejected policy moves it considers harmful to the education sector, including the reversal of the mother-tongue policy in early childhood education, the proposed Coventry University campus in Nigeria, compulsory enrolment of academics in the Nigeria Education Repository Databank, and plans to scrap so-called “irrelevant” courses in universities.

Warning that rising frustration among lecturers could trigger another shutdown of campuses, the union urged Nigerians to pressure governments at all levels to honour the agreement, adding that its NEC will reconvene soon to review compliance and decide on the next line of action.