Academic activities at Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), have been paralysed following an indefinite strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) branch in the institution. The Chairman of ASUU NSUK, Comrade Zubairu Abdulmuminu II, announced the action in an interview, saying the strike took effect immediately after receiving approval from the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU. According to him, the strike is “total, comprehensive, indefinite, and suffocating” and will affect all academic activities, including lectures, postgraduate supervision and external defences, until their demands are met. Comrade Abdulmuminu said the lecturers were being owed huge sums by both the university management and the Nasarawa State Government. He listed the outstanding payments to include Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), estimated at over ₦2 billion; arrears of the 25 per cent and 35 per cent wage awards for 25 months; ₦35,000 wage award arrears; and ₦70,000 minimum wage arrears for 11 months. He added that the implementation of the new agreement signed with the Federal Government on December 22, 2025, which was expected to commence on January 1, 2026, had not been effected. He said the July salary was paid without the new component, leaving an outstanding amount of about ₦146 million monthly. “The amount will continue to accrue for as long as the implementation is not being put in place,” he said. The ASUU chairman said students had been asked to return to their parents’ houses as all academic activities on campus had been shut down. On dialogue, he said the union had engaged government officials several times without results. These included the Commissioner for Education, whom they met more than five times; the Deputy Governor, whom they met three times on the directive of the Governor; the Speaker of the House of Assembly; the Secretary to the State Government (SSG); and the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. “The last meeting with the Deputy Governor was on July 26, and nothing positive came out of it,” Abdulmuminu stated. He said the union had exhausted all avenues for dialogue and resorted to the strike as “the only language the government will understand.” ASUU NEC granted universities permission to embark on the action during its meeting in Abuja between August 8 and 9, 2026.
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