ASUU Kaduna State University Chapter Issues Two-Week Strike Ultimatum Over Mass Exodus of Lecturers
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Kaduna State University chapter, has raised serious concerns over the departure of more than two hundred lecturers, including several professors, from the institution, attributing the mass exodus to poor conditions of service and the continued failure to implement the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement. The union’s chairman, Comrade Abubakar Abdullahi, disclosed this development on Monday during a press conference held at the union’s secretariat within the university in Kaduna, warning that the situation had reached a critical point requiring urgent intervention from relevant authorities.
According to Abdullahi, the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement, which outlines improved conditions of service for academic staff across Nigerian universities, officially took effect in January 2026 but has yet to be implemented or domesticated at Kaduna State University. He explained that this prolonged delay has resulted in academic staff at the institution becoming among the least paid university workers in the country, a situation he described as particularly troubling given the university’s previous reputation for prioritising staff welfare ahead of many other institutions nationwide. He further warned that continued delay in implementing the agreement would lead to the accumulation of salary arrears dating back to January 2026, compounding existing frustrations among academic staff.
The union chairman revealed that the majority of lecturers who have left the university, including experienced professors, have gone on to secure appointments at newer universities both within Kaduna State and in other parts of the country, largely driven by the search for better remuneration and improved working conditions. Abdullahi cautioned that no university system could realistically withstand such a significant loss of experienced academic personnel without facing serious consequences, stressing that replacing highly skilled academics of this caliber would take years and require substantial financial and institutional resources to achieve.
Given the severity of the situation, Abdullahi announced that the union’s Congress convened a meeting on August 12, 2026, during which members resolved to formally declare an industrial dispute with the university and state authorities. This resolution aligns with a broader decision reached by ASUU’s National Executive Council during its meeting held at the University of Abuja on August 8 and 9. As a direct outcome of these deliberations, the union has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Kaduna State Government, university management and other relevant stakeholders, demanding full implementation and domestication of the 2025 agreement within the stipulated timeframe.
Beyond the core issue of the unimplemented federal agreement, Abdullahi also highlighted several unresolved local concerns affecting ASUU members at KASU, including matters relating to university autonomy, excessive workload, outstanding promotion arrears, unpaid death benefits, group life insurance coverage, the 25 and 35 percent wage awards, and delayed pension remittances. He explained that the union had previously written on multiple occasions to the university management, the Governing Council and the state governor, who also serves as the institution’s visitor, without receiving the level of response required to resolve these longstanding grievances.
Abdullahi warned that failure by the relevant authorities to take concrete steps within the two-week window could ultimately result in a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike at Kaduna State University, a development that would significantly disrupt academic activities across the institution. He appealed directly to parents, students and other education stakeholders to support ongoing efforts aimed at averting industrial action, emphasizing that timely intervention from government and university authorities remained essential to preserving academic stability and preventing further deterioration of teaching and research standards at the institution.
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