After a rare two-year streak of uninterrupted academic activity in Nigerian public universities, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is back to downing tools this week, embarking on a two-week warning strike. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, October 12, 2025, the union’s National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, said all branches across the country had been directed to commence a full withdrawal of their services beginning at midnight on Monday, October 13, 2025.

This announcement came a little over three years after ASUU suspended its previous strike — in October 2022 — following eight months of halted academic activities across the vast majority of public universities in the country. The reasons for the previous strike are strikingly similar to those listed for the latest industrial action. ASUU has accused the Federal Government of failing to implement key agreements, including the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement, revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, and other welfare-related demands. They are also demanding payment of outstanding 25% to 35% salary arrears and promotion arrears spanning over four years.

Many stakeholders in the university system, including students, are baffled by the government’s apparent inability to meet lecturers’ demands for improved welfare, considering that school fees have seen significant hikes over the past two years. Since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, his administration has made sustained efforts to reduce universities’ reliance on the Federal Government, removing subsidies that had previously allowed lower tuition in federal universities. In turn, these universities have implemented substantial fee increases. For example, many students at the University of Ibadan (UI) were subjected to over a 400%hike in school fees without warning last year, forcing some to resort to crowdfunding to remain in school. It is the same story in other federal universities, including the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), where earlier this month, school fees were suddenly more than doubled — in some cases reaching as high as ₦400,000 — leaving many students blindsided and distraught.

Despite these indiscriminate fee hikes, students are once again confronted with the familiar reality of perennial strikes that have disrupted their lives for years and caused prolonged stays in school. The latest strike has left many students in despair as they try to navigate another period away from campus. Although this is a warning strike expected to last 14 days, ASUU has warned it could launch an indefinite strike — with no end in sight — if the Federal Government fails to meet its demands. Essentially, students may be looking at months of zero academic activity, considering that the previous two strikes lasted nine and eight months, respectively.

Most students, BSide observed, are displeased with this disruption and uncertainty. Adedayo Rhamat Adedayo, a medical student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), expressed sadness at the latest strike, saying she had experienced two before now that have “marred” her for life. If there had been no strikes, Adedayo would have been inducted into the medical profession two months ago, already beginning her career. However, at the moment, she has no control over when she will finally be inducted, thanks to ASUU’s perennial strikes.

Adedayo is hardly alone in this distressing situation. Ayobami Ojeniyi, a 500-level engineering student at UI, gained admission in 2019 and, under normal circumstances, was supposed to graduate in 2024. But in October 2025, he still cannot say when he will eventually obtain his degree. He noted that there was a nine-month strike when he was in 100 level, an eight-month action in his 200 level, and now, after three years of reprieve, another strike threatens to drag on through his final year.

Ojeniyi’s situation mirrors that of Arowona, a UI student who also gained admission to the institution in 2019 and is yet to graduate through no fault of hers. Before ASUU embarked on its warning strike, Aweda, a final-year Veterinary Medicine student at the same university, had hoped that the union would not proceed with the action. But now that the strike is underway, the UI undergraduate says his graduation has effectively been moved to next year. If the warning strike does not persist beyond the two-week window, Aweda may still graduate this year, but there is little hope of that. “I want 2025,” he said.

Six days into the two-week strike, with so many uncertainties still looming, students continue to reel from the disruption and mourn lost time. But some are looking beyond the university’s four walls, seeking internships to build professional skills or turning to their trades to earn a living. 

I'm a 4th year law student, with a good academic performance.
I'm open up to internship from any law firm in the island, Lagos.
Just putting it out there https://t.co/tSBDcPoCn7

— Mr. daluu (@ChidaluNnubia) October 14, 2025

Gained admission since 2019, I still never graduate.
Okay naw😭😂
Some of my mates have finished NYSC, but it's cool

If you need a photographer, please hire me, make I use these 2 weeks hustle https://t.co/zIi8ZcRWIV

— ecofriendly🌱 (@_arowona) October 12, 2025

ASUU and the Federal Government are currently locked in a standoff — the latter threatening to implement its “no work, no pay” policy against striking lecturers, and the former responding in kind with “no pay, no work.”

As it stands, there are no negotiations scheduled between ASUU and the Federal Government, but on Tuesday, the House of Representatives tasked Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to lead efforts to facilitate a “mutually acceptable lasting solution to the ongoing dispute.” Whether a lasting solution will be found within the next two weeks or ASUU proceeds with an indefinite strike remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the continued suspension of academic activities is taking a heavy toll on students and their futures.