The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Imo State University (IMSU) branch, has appealed to the Imo State Government, the university’s Visitor and Governing Council, to urgently intervene in its ongoing strike, insisting that academic activities will not resume until outstanding welfare issues are addressed.
The union warned that the prolonged industrial action was damaging the academic calendar, institutional reputation and students’ academic progress, calling on the relevant authorities to facilitate a lasting resolution through genuine negotiations.
ASUU-IMSU Chairman, Stephen Oguji, made the appeal during a press conference at the university premises in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Monday.
He said the union had outlined conditions for suspending the strike, which began on August 10, 2026, to demand full implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, signed in December 2025 and effective from January 1, 2026.
The conditions include payment of September and October salaries at the new rate, a time-bound agreement for the payment of salary arrears covering January to August 2026, and the release of all withheld salaries.
Others are the constitution of a committee to conduct elections for heads of department, cancellation of examinations and postgraduate defences conducted during the strike, and a formal agreement guaranteeing that members would not be victimised for participating in the industrial action.
The union also demanded written commitments with clear timelines for settling outstanding postgraduate allowances, pension-related obligations and earned academic allowances.
Oguji said the union had written seven letters to the university administration and held two engagements with management before embarking on the strike.
It also wrote three letters to the governing council and held two engagements with relevant stakeholders, but the efforts failed to produce a satisfactory resolution.
He noted that several other universities that embarked on similar strikes over related issues had resolved their disputes, while IMSU remained embroiled in the crisis 77 days after the industrial action began.
The union also faulted the university management’s decision to commence second-semester examinations for the 2025/2026 academic session on Monday, despite the ongoing strike.
It alleged that non-academic and casual staff had been engaged to conduct examinations, insisting that the move could not be regarded as a restoration of normal academic activities.
ASUU-IMSU further alleged that the management wrote to the university’s Visitor claiming that the union was not on strike, a position it rejected.
According to Oguji, an engagement with the expanded university management on August 27 led to the establishment of a committee to address the dispute, but the process stalled after the committee indicated that it could only consider certain aspects of the agreement.
He added that subsequent meetings with the governing council’s subcommittee on ASUU on October 20 and 22 also failed to produce a concrete resolution, as the union was again asked to suspend the strike to allow further dialogue.
The chairman maintained that the union was not opposed to negotiations but would no longer accept assurances without measurable results, citing previous engagements in 2024 that failed to resolve the underlying issues.
The union also expressed concern over the non-payment of September salaries to affected academic staff, alleging that non-academic staff had received their salaries while lecturers remained unpaid.
It called for an explanation and the immediate payment of outstanding salaries.
While acknowledging the hardship the strike had caused students and parents, ASUU-IMSU insisted that conducting examinations amid an unresolved dispute would not protect academic standards or restore confidence in the university’s academic processes.
The union reaffirmed its readiness for peaceful negotiations but declared that the strike would continue until the 2025 agreement was implemented and outstanding issues addressed through written, time-bound, and verifiable commitments.
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