Nigerian public universities might be shut down as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set to embark on a fresh nationwide strike from November 21, 2025, citing the Federal Government’s failure to address the union’s long-standing demands.
This is according to a post made on Tuesday by the X account @asuunews, which usually reports events on the union’s activities.
“ALL UNIVERSITY WILL BE CLOSED NATIONWIDE TILL FURTHER NOTICE ON FRIDAY!,” the post reads.
Earlier, the ASUU Kano Zone warned that Nigeria may be heading toward another round of industrial action following what it described as the Federal Government’s snail-paced and insincere handling of ongoing renegotiations.
Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Abdulkadir Muhammad, told journalists after a zonal meeting in Kano that the union is rapidly losing confidence in government’s commitment to addressing longstanding issues affecting the university system.
Muhammad recalled that ASUU suspended its two-week warning strike in October to allow for meaningful and fruitful engagement, but said government negotiators have instead adopted delay tactics and spread misinformation.
He said ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) met on November 8 and 9 at Taraba State University, where members reviewed government’s offers and the status of renegotiation. According to him, NEC was seriously dismayed and disillusioned by the slow pace of talks.
“Our hope for a holistic, amicable, and timely resolution of the contentious issues is increasingly being dashed,” he said, accusing some government functionaries of undermining the process and misleading the public.
Muhammad added that government proposals so far do not address the poor conditions of service driving massive brain drain in public universities. He faulted claims that ASUU’s demands had largely been met, describing them as propaganda.
“The one-month ultimatum given to the government to respond to our demands will soon lapse,” he warned.
The union appealed to traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society groups, trade unions, students, parents, and other stakeholders to pressure the government to act swiftly and avert another total shutdown of the university system.
In October, ASUU suspended its two-week warning strike following renewed commitments from the Federal Government and the National Assembly to address the union’s demands.
The demands of the union include the re-negotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of universities, an end to the alleged victimisation of ASUU members in LASU, KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University) and FUTO, payment of outstanding 25–35 percent salary arrears, settlement of promotion arrears spanning over four years, and remittance of outstanding third-party deductions.
After the strike, the federal government said it had reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to revitalizing Nigeria’s tertiary education sector through decisive fiscal interventions, policy reforms, and sustained dialogue with ASUU and other university-based unions.
It announced the release of ₦2.3 billion, representing Batch 8 salary and promotion arrears to universities across the country.
