The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Sokoto Zone has warned of a fresh university strike over the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement the signed January 2026 welfare and funding agreement.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Sokoto Zone, has warned that Nigeria’s public university system may be heading toward a fresh industrial crisis due to the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement its agreements with the union. Speaking at a press conference in Sokoto on Thursday, May 21, 2026, the Zonal Coordinator of the union, Abubakar Sabo, accused both federal and state governments of continuously neglecting critical funding and lecturer welfare issues. Sabo stated that despite the public signing and formal presentation of the FGN-ASUU Agreement in January 2026, the government has yet to inaugurate the essential Implementation Monitoring Committee, which has led to widespread inconsistencies and selective enforcement of the accord by various university authorities.
The union highlighted that the continued delay is actively breeding tension across campuses nationwide and severely threatening academic stability. According to ASUU, numerous public universities have failed to roll out the agreed 40 percent salary increment linked to Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances, and Professorial Allowances. Expressing the union’s growing frustration, Sabo remarked, “The continued delay in addressing these issues is capable of provoking avoidable industrial unrest in the university system,” before appealing to the authorities to honor their commitments, adding, “We call on both Federal and State Governments to faithfully implement every component of the Agreement in the interest of industrial harmony and stability in Nigerian universities.”
In addition to the unfulfilled January accord, the Sokoto Zone outlined a lengthy list of lingering grievances that continue to demoralize academic staff. These unresolved welfare issues include unpaid promotion arrears, extensive arrears from the 25–35 percent salary award, and persistent shortfalls caused by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform. The union further demanded the immediate release of unremitted deductions, withheld salaries dating back to the 2022 industrial action, and a resolution to delayed pension payments for retired academics, warning that failure to act swiftly would leave the union with no option but to disrupt the academic calendar.
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