As the Federal Government begins implementing the 2025 agreement signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the union’s Kano Zone has warned that it may resort to industrial action against the governments of Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa states if they continue to delay the implementation of the agreement in their state-owned universities.
Addressing a press conference at Bayero University, Kano, on Wednesday, the ASUU Kano Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Abdulrazaq Ibrahim, said that while the Federal Government had begun implementing some key aspects of the agreement in most federal universities, none of the state-owned universities within the zone had adopted or implemented it.
The Kano Zone comprises Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; Bayero University, Kano (BUK); Kaduna State University (KASU); Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil; Federal University Dutse (FUD); Northwest University (NWU), Kano; Sule Lamido University (SLU), Kafin Hausa; and the Federal University of Technology, Babura.
According to the union, the Federal Government has released funds to settle outstanding five-month arrears covering salary components under the agreement, including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), Professorial Secretariat Administrative Allowance (SAA), and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).
However, ASUU expressed concern that the state governments in the zone had yet to honour the agreement despite participating in the negotiations that culminated in its signing in December 2025.
The union noted that several state-owned universities across the country, including Sa’adu Zungur University, Ekiti State University, Osun State University, Benue State University, Sokoto State University and Shehu Shagari University of Education, have already adopted and implemented the agreement.
It therefore urged the governments of Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa states to adopt the agreement immediately, settle outstanding entitlements, and resolve pending issues affecting lecturers in their respective universities.
ASUU also renewed its demand for the payment of the withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries of its members, insisting that lecturers continued to carry out research during the strike period and resumed academic duties immediately after the suspension of the industrial action.
The union further decried delays in the remittance of outstanding third-party deductions and pension contributions to the National Pension Commission (PenCom), calling on the relevant authorities to clear the backlog and ensure regular remittances to Pension Fund Administrators.
Beyond university-related issues, ASUU expressed concern over the country’s worsening security situation, economic hardship and the effects of climate change, saying terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and farmer-herder conflicts continue to threaten lives, livelihoods and national development.
The union urged governments at all levels to fulfil their constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property while implementing policies that promote security, economic justice and sustainable development.
ASUU warned that continued delays, selective implementation or outright disregard of the 2025 agreement could undermine industrial harmony and disrupt academic activities in universities across the zone.
It appealed to parents, students, civil society organisations, the media and the general public to prevail on the affected state governments to honour the agreement, stressing that failure to do so could jeopardise access to quality higher education and delay students’ academic and professional aspirations.
ASUU threatens strike in Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano over non-implementation of 2025 agreement