ASUU Threatens to Strike Again Over Unpaid Pension Money

(ASUU. Photo Credit: The Guardian Nigeria)
The lecturers' union at Sa'adu Zungur University has warned the Bauchi State Gov. that they might go on strike if the government does not pay the retirement money owed to staff for many years.

The union says some members retired in poverty and others died without receiving their benefits.

The arrears have built up over more than 10 years.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, branch chairman Awwal Hussain Nuhu and secretary Saleh Bagudu Rimi said the state had agreed to settle the pensions as part of a memorandum of understanding signed after an indefinite strike that began on 29 November 2024.

The deadline for paying those arrears passed on 9 December 2025 without payment.

The union said Governor Bala Mohammed had directed the Head of Civil Service, the Commissioner for Higher Education and the university's governing council to deal with the backlog, but nothing meaningful has happened.

The union also said several letters asking for payment have gone unanswered.

ASUU-SAZU has asked the governor, as the university's Visitor, to step in.

It blamed the Head of Civil Service for any new industrial dispute that follows.