Nigeria: ASUU Gives Sokoto Govt Ultimatum Over Unfulfilled Agreement, Threatens Strike

What the report says

The Academic Staff Union of Universities’ Sokoto State University chapter has given the Sokoto State Government a two-week deadline to carry out agreements it says were already signed, according to a Vanguard report carried by AllAfrica. The union said the warning followed a meeting with the state’s Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hamza Maishanu, other management officials and ASUU representatives after an earlier two-month window expired.

ASUU branch officials, identified in the report as Dr. Bello Musa and Zulkallaini Shehu, said the government had not fully delivered on commitments tied to unresolved welfare and salary matters. The union said the items include full implementation of the salary component of the ASUU/FGN Agreement 2025, payment of outstanding Earned Academic Allowance, remittance of third-party deductions, arrears linked to a 25 per cent to 35 per cent salary increase, and promotion arrears.

The report says the union had previously reached agreements with the government in March 2024 and again through the Ministry for Higher Education in April 2025, with a two-month implementation period later requested by the government. ASUU said only part of the salary-related agreement was implemented and warned that an indefinite strike could follow if the latest deadline is missed.

The dispute matters because it raises the risk of another disruption at the state-owned university. In general, ASUU branches in Nigeria often use ultimatums and strike threats to press governments on unpaid benefits and agreement implementation.