More than 200 professors and other academic staff have reportedly left Kaduna State University over what the Academic Staff Union of Universities, KASU chapter, described as poor working conditions and the failure to implement the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU Agreement.
The union has consequently given the university management and other relevant authorities two weeks to begin full implementation and domestication of the agreement, warning that failure to act could trigger a total and indefinite strike.
ASUU-KASU Chairman, Abubakar Abdullahi, disclosed this on Monday at a press conference held at the union’s secretariat at the Kaduna State University, Kaduna, according to Daily Post.
Abdullahi said the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement, which contains provisions aimed at improving the welfare and working conditions of academic staff in Nigerian universities, became effective in January 2026. However, he said KASU had yet to commence its implementation.
“The union has written several letters to the university management, Governing Council and the Visitor to the university, the Governor of Kaduna State and urged them to domesticate and implement the agreement in accordance with the law establishing the institution.”
He said the union had also sought the intervention of stakeholders within and outside Kaduna State in an attempt to resolve the matter peacefully and preserve industrial harmony at the institution.
According to Abdullahi, eight months after the agreement was signed, KASU remained among institutions yet to begin implementation, even as most federal universities and several state-owned universities had either implemented the agreement or announced when implementation would commence, including the payment of outstanding arrears.
He said the prolonged delay had left KASU academic staff among the lowest-paid university workers in the country, despite the institution’s previous record of giving attention to staff welfare.
The union warned that further delays would increase the salary arrears owed to workers, with payments potentially accumulating from January 2026.
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Abdullahi also linked the continued exit of experienced academics, including professors and other lecturers, to the poor conditions of service at the university. He warned that losing such personnel could leave a lasting gap that would take years to address.
The ASUU-KASU chairman said the union’s Congress, during a meeting on August 12, 2026, resolved to “declare an industrial dispute and embark on a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike,” following a similar resolution by ASUU’s National Executive Council at its meeting at the University of Abuja on August 8 and 9, 2026.
He explained that the two-week ultimatum was issued in line with established procedures for resolving industrial disputes, giving the authorities an opportunity to take concrete measures towards implementing and domesticating the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
Beyond the national agreement, the union identified several unresolved issues at the university, “including university autonomy, excessive workload, promotion arrears, death benefits, group life insurance coverage, the 25 and 35 per cent wage awards, and pension remittances.”
ASUU-KASU called on “university management and other relevant authorities to treat the issues with urgency and provide satisfactory responses to avert industrial disharmony” and maintain peace and stability at the institution.
The union also appealed to parents, stakeholders and other well-meaning Nigerians to intervene and help prevent the threatened strike.