The Academic Staff Union of Universities has suspended its two-week warning strike and given the federal government one month for further engagement with the union.
Chris Piwuna, president of ASUU, announced this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the one-month window would allow the federal government to conclude all ongoing renegotiations on the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement and other outstanding issues.
ASUU had declared a two-week warning strike on October 13 over unmet demands.
According to Mr Piwuna, the suspension decision followed an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the union held in Abuja.
He said the union decided to suspend the warning strike “out of respect for our students, parents, the Nigeria Labour Congress, and other well-meaning Nigerians who have intervened in the dispute.”
“The NEC meeting resolved that the warning strike is hereby suspended with immediate effect from midnight, Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
“The one-month window is to allow for a conducive atmosphere for further engagement between the union and the government,’’ he said.
Mr Piwuna said that the government must take advantage of the one-month grace period to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement and address all pending welfare issues.
“We have not achieved all our objectives, but we are definitely not where we were before the strike began,” he said.
He noted that the union met with the federal government’s team led by Yayale Ahmed on October 16 and October 18 to review the renegotiated 2009 FG-ASUU draft agreement.
Mr Piwuna added that ASUU also had a promising engagement with the Senate Committees on Tertiary Education and TETFund, as well as the deputy Senate president, Barau Jibrin.
“Our members place a lot of hope on the strong promises made by these distinguished senators, and we look forward to working with them to ensure full delivery on their commitments,” he said.
He added, “As far as we are concerned, the Federal Ministry of Education has not moved a needle in reaching this point. If not for the intervention of individuals within and outside government, we would not have made any progress.’’
“Consequently, NEC resolved to suspend the warning strike to reciprocate the overwhelming support of Nigerians.”
Mr Piwuna also said that the union would not hesitate to resume industrial action if the government failed to meet its demands within the one-month period.
“Should government fail to resolve the issues within the window, ASUU reserves the right to resume the strike without further notice,” he said.
(NAN)
