Labour Unionism in Nigerian Universities: When Will the Strike Relay Race End?

 

         Special May Day Edition – CampusDialog

Strike Watch 2026: What ASUU, ASUP, COEASU Are Negotiating Now



Today is Workers’ Day. Tomorrow, the universities shut down. Again.




May 1, 2026. While Nigerian workers march with flags and solidarity songs, the Joint Action Committee of Universities (JAC) - made up of SSANU, NAAT, and NASU - begins a total, indefinite strike tomorrow, May 2, 2026.

Their reason is old. Their pain is fresh. Their question is the same one CampusDialog asks every May Day:

When will this strike relay race end in our ivory towers?


1. The 2026 Strike Baton: Who Is Holding It Now?

Nigerian university labour unionism has become a relay race. One union runs and then hands the baton to the next. The students, however, never cross the finish line.

This is Strike Watch 2026 - the current positions:

A. JAC – SSANU, NAAT, NASU – Strike Begins May 2, 2026

The non-teaching staff say the government has failed to pay withheld salaries from 2022 to 2024, refused to implement the re-negotiated 2009 FGN/University Unions Agreement, and abandoned the payment of earned allowances.

  • SSANU: Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities

  • NASU: Non-Academic Staff Union

  • NAAT: National Association of Academic Technologists

Their threat: No staff to open gates, run laboratories, process transcripts, or maintain power. Universities cannot function without them.


B. ASUU – Negotiating, Not Yet on Strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities is back at the negotiation table. Their demands include:

  1. Implementation of UTAS in place of IPPIS

  2. Revitalization Fund — the ₦1.3 trillion balance from the 2013 MoU

  3. 26% budgetary allocation to education in line with UNESCO recommendations

  4. Release of withheld seven months’ salaries from the 2022 strike

Their position:
"We are negotiating in good faith. But if the government plays games, the baton will return to us."


C. ASUP – Polytechnic Lecturers on Standby

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has issued a 21-day ultimatum.

Key issues include:

  • CONTISS 15 migration arrears

  • Amendment of the Polytechnic Act

  • Funding concerns

If JAC and ASUU fail, ASUP says they will run the next leg.


D. COEASU – Colleges of Education

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union is demanding:

  • Full implementation of the dual mandate

  • Retirement age extension to 65 years

They are warming up on the sidelines.


The Relay Pattern

  • 2020: ASUU ran for 9 months

  • 2021: SSANU/NASU ran for 3 months

  • 2022: ASUU ran for 8 months

  • 2023: NAAT ran for 2 months

  • 2024: COEASU ran for 4 months

  • 2025: ASUP ran for 6 weeks

  • 2026: JAC takes the baton tomorrow, May 2

When does the race end?
When the prize is no longer a new agreement, but the implementation of old ones.


2. May Day 1986 vs May Day 2026: What Changed?

On May 1, 1986, Nigerian workers marched for dignity. University unions marched for academic freedom.

1986 Demands: Military interference, underfunding, brain drain
2026 Demands: Withheld salaries, unimplemented agreements, underfunding, brain drain

Forty years. Same placards. Different fonts.

The only thing that has changed is the baton.

In 1986, ASUU ran alone. In 2026, the race has six unions: ASUU, SSANU, NASU, NAAT, ASUP, and COEASU.

More runners, same track, no finish line.

Why?

Because government treats collective bargaining as a delay tactic. Sign an MoU today, breach it tomorrow.

The unions have learned one lesson: if you do not strike, you do not get paid.

So, strike becomes the only language government respects.


3. The Real Cost of the Strike Relay Race

We calculate the cost in trillions. CampusDialog calculates it in lives.

1. The Student

A four-year degree now takes six years.
The 2018 admission set is still in 300 level.

Their age mates in ABUAD and Covenant University have graduated, completed NYSC, and entered the job market.


2. The Parent

Paying house rent for six years instead of four.
Feeding a “student” who is at home farming.
Watching their child age out of job eligibility.


3. The Country

We are breeding a generation with certificates that arrive too late.

Delayed graduation has become a structural barrier to opportunity.


4. The Lecturer

Withheld salaries mean some professors now drive ride-hailing vehicles to survive.

A PhD holder struggles to pay school fees for their children.

Dignity dies first. Then the brain drain begins.


The strike relay race does not punish government. It punishes the poor.

The Minister’s child is in Cyprus.
The Vice-Chancellor’s child is in Canada.
The union chairman’s child may already be in a private university.


4. How to End the Relay Race: CampusDialog’s May Day Charter

If we are serious, the baton must be buried — not passed.


A. To Government – Federal and State Authorities

1. Automate Implementation
Every signed MoU must have a budget line and an automatic release date.

No more “we will look into it.”


2. End IPPIS for Universities
A civil service platform cannot manage a university system.

Approve UTAS, settle the backlogs, and move on.


3. Penalize Breach
If a minister fails to implement a signed agreement, there should be consequences.

Make breach expensive.


B. To University Unions

1. Unite the Calendar
JAC, ASUU, ASUP, COEASU — create one negotiation front.

Government divides you because you act separately.

Run together once, win permanently.


2. Audit Yourselves
Before accusing government of corruption, publish your own union accounts.

Strike funds, check-off dues, external grants — transparency starts at home.


3. Explore No-Strike Alternatives
Some private institutions have maintained uninterrupted academic calendars.

Study what works there.

Is it funding, governance, or institutional culture?


C. To Students and Parents

1. Demand Accountability
A signed agreement is a contract.

Those affected by repeated disruptions should seek lawful mechanisms for redress.


2. Vote With Your Feet
Parents should study the strike history of institutions before making choices.

Market consequences can force reform.


5. The May Day Question: Who Will Drop the Baton?

Labour unionism is not evil.

It built the eight-hour workday.
It secured pensions.
It strengthened the middle class.

But in Nigerian ivory towers, unionism without statesmanship has become academic sabotage.

Government without honour has become executive deceit.

And between them, students become casualties.


JAC strikes tomorrow, May 2, 2026.
ASUU is negotiating.
ASUP is warming up.
COEASU is watching.

When will the relay race end?

It ends when agreements are signed and implemented — not shelved.

It ends when union leaders call off strikes because the deal is truly done.

It ends when we realize that you cannot build a world-class university system with third-world industrial relations.


This May Day, CampusDialog honours the Nigerian worker.

But we ask both the Nigerian university worker and the Nigerian government worker one question:

If some institutions can maintain uninterrupted calendars, what prevents the wider system from doing the same?

Until we answer that, the baton will keep passing.

And the students will keep waiting at a finish line that moves every semester.


The strike is not a relay race. It is a funeral procession.
And we are burying the future.


Strike Watch 2026 Dashboard – May 1, 2026

UnionStatusCore DemandDeadline
JAC: SSANU, NASU, NAAT

Strike begins May 2

Withheld salaries, 2009 Agreement

Indefinite

ASUU

Negotiating

UTAS, Revitalization Fund, Withheld Salaries

30-day review

ASUP

Ultimatum

CONTISS 15 arrears, Act Amendment

May 22, 2026

COEASU

MonitoringDual Mandate, 65-year Retirement Age
No fixed date



Tag your union. Tag the Minister of Education. Tag the President.
Because Workers’ Day 2027 must not meet us on this same track.

Ambrose Odiase, FIPMA, MANUPA, MAUA (UK)
Founding Editor, CampusDialog

Published: May 1, 2026 | CampusDialog May Day Special Edition

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