There are strong signals that academic activities may be paralysed at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) should the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nsukka Zone, make good its threat to shut down the institution over the non-implementation of the 2025 ASUU/FGN agreement.

The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Nsukka Zone, Prof. Christian Opata, gave the warning at a press briefing held at the university yesterday.

The zone is made up of eight universities (Benue State University (BSU), Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi (FUAM), Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Federal University (FU) Wukari, Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo (FUSHO), and Kogi State University Anyigba (KSU).

Opata claimed that ESUT remains the only university in the zone that has not implemented the agreement, warning that the union may act should the issue continue to linger.

He recalled that ASUU, through a long, sometimes “frustrating and tortuous process,” concluded an agreement with the Federal Government in 2025 to improve lecturers’ welfare, stressing that even when the said agreement was unveiled in January this year, it had not been implemented at ESUT.

Opata added: “We believe that the Federal Government was deliberate in choosing the date of the unveiling as it coincided with the date of the emergence of Nigeria as a nation-state.

“After the signing of the agreement, the National Universities Commission (NUC) transmitted the information to all State governments. This is apart from our members handing over the same document to the Vice Chancellors, who also transmitted the same to the state governments.”

ALSO, the Ibadan Zone of ASUU has threatened an indefinite strike if the state governments’ failure to honour the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement persists.

Academic staff at the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education (EAUE), Oyo Town; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, and Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, yesterday, called on Governors Seyi Makinde and Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak to commence full implementation of the signed 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement from July, 2026.

The Ibadan Zone of ASUU, comprising the University of Ibadan; University of Ilorin; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Osun State University, Osogbo; Kwara State University, Malete, and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, met at Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo State, where they maintained that the non-implementation by the two states puts the lives of their members in danger of meeting their personal and family needs under the excruciating Nigerian economy.

While commending the roles of the governing councils of the state universities, ASUU noted that its members are being treated unjustly by the governors who “have failed to provide financial backing required for full implementation of the signed agreement”

“It is provocative and unjust. Our members in these institutions are being shortchanged by the governors and visitors of Oyo and Kwara states, who have failed to provide the financial backing required to fully implement the signed agreement. However, the role of governing councils of these state universities must be commended for their efforts to address the implementation of the agreement.”

Also, ASUU, Owerri Zone, has issued a fresh 14-day ultimatum to two state governors, warning that academic activities in affected state-owned universities may be shut down if its demands are ignored.

The union said it would embark on an indefinite strike at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, and Imo State University if the governments of Anambra and Imo states fail to implement the 2025 Federal Government/ASUU Agreement.

The warning was directed at Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.

Addressing journalists at the ASUU Conference Hall of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, the Owerri Zonal Coordinator of the union, Dennis Aribodor, said the two universities had yet to comply with the agreement, more than five months after implementation began at other institutions.