The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Port Harcourt branch, has declared an indefinite strike over what it described as incomplete payment of lecturers’ salaries and outstanding responsibility allowances.
The decision was reached at an emergency congress of the branch on Wednesday, September 16, following the expiration of a 48-working-hour ultimatum issued to the university management to resolve the grievances.
The branch Secretary, Tarila Amakoromo, disclosed the decision in a statement issued to journalists on Thursday, saying the university administration had failed to act on commitments made during a meeting with the union.
According to the union, its emergency congress on September 11 resolved to give the management until midnight on Tuesday, September 15, to address the outstanding salary and allowance issues.
The deadline expired without a resolution, prompting another emergency congress on September 16, where members resolved to commence the indefinite industrial action.
ASUU listed the incomplete payment of lecturers’ salaries for June, July and August 2026 among its principal grievances.
The union also complained about incomplete payment of responsibility allowances and alleged that members covered under the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), including lecturers in the School of Health Sciences, had not received the allowances due to them.
A particularly contentious issue, according to the branch, is the alleged exclusion of ASUU members from the monthly payment of responsibility allowances received by members of other unions at the university for more than two years.
Amakoromo said the university administration met with ASUU representatives on September 11 and promised to respond to the union’s demands before the expiration of the deadline.
He, however, said the promised action did not materialise.
“Regrettably, the University Administration, in spite of meeting with the Union on the same day and promising to respond to the Union’s demands before the deadline given by Congress, refused to act as promised,” he said.
The union consequently declared the indefinite strike after concluding that the management had failed to resolve the issues despite the ultimatum.
Under the industrial action, ASUU members have been directed to withdraw from both academic and official responsibilities until further notice.
The union said its members must not conduct lectures or examinations, invigilate examinations, participate in official assignments or attend statutory meetings throughout the duration of the strike.
To enforce the directive, the branch has constituted a strike monitoring team to monitor compliance across the university’s main campus and other centres.
The UNIPORT dispute comes against the backdrop of a broader industrial relations crisis in Nigeria’s university system.
On September 11, ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, warned that the union could reactivate its suspended nationwide strike if the Federal and state governments failed to urgently address outstanding issues concerning lecturers’ welfare and the implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement.
The national union said the agreement, reached after years of negotiations and industrial disputes, had not been fully implemented by the Federal Government and several state governments.
ASUU also demanded payment of the remaining 3.5 months out of 7.5 months of salaries withheld from lecturers during the previous administration, as well as the remittance of deductions from lecturers’ earnings, including pension, cooperative and union-related deductions.
The national leadership stressed that its warning did not amount to an immediate declaration of a nationwide strike, but said it could revive the suspended action without further notice if the outstanding matters remained unresolved.
