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No, ASUU has not shut down all federal universities

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
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Summary

 

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A social media post claiming that all federal universities in Nigeria are currently shut because the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has commenced a nationwide strike has gone viral.

The post was made on X by Mr. Papito (@1danfulcreation) on 17 September 2026, with the caption:

“ASUU is on strike but they are hiding the news. All the Federal Universities are currently striking, but Tinubu and compromised media and covering the headline!!!Nigerians wake up!!!”

The post had generated 7,400 reposts, 22,000 likes, and 458 comments as of the time of the screenshot.

CLAIM

All federal universities in Nigeria are currently on strike, but the government and the media are hiding the development.

FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

ASUU had not declared a nationwide strike across all federal universities as of 17 September 2026.

Rather, the union’s national leadership had threatened to reactivate its suspended nationwide strike if the federal government and state governments failed to resolve outstanding issues affecting university lecturers.

According to report published by Punch on 11 September, ASUU president Christopher Piwuna said the union could activate its suspended strike “without any further notice” over issues including the incomplete implementation of the December 2025 agreement, unpaid salaries and unremitted deductions.

Channels Television reported that ASUU specifically described its position as a warning that the suspended industrial action could be activated if the government failed to respond to its demands. The report noted that this was not an immediate declaration of a nationwide strike.

Similarly, Punch reported on 11 September that ASUU had threatened to resume its suspended nationwide strike, rather than announcing that the strike had already commenced.

However, some individual ASUU branches had embarked on industrial action.

For example, the ASUU chapter at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) declared an indefinite strike on 16 September over incomplete salary payments and responsibility allowances. Punch reported that the branch took the decision after the university management failed to resolve the issues raised by the union.

Similarly, the ASUU chapter at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UNIZIK) had embarked on a strike over incomplete payment of August salaries. However, the action was suspended on 11 September after the university paid the outstanding salaries. Punch reported that lecturers were directed to immediately resume their academic and administrative duties.

There were also industrial actions involving some state-owned universities. On 16 September, ASUU declared an indefinite strike across Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State University of Education (LASUED) and Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) over unresolved demands. TheCable reported that the three institutions are owned by the Lagos State government.

These developments show that some university branches were on strike, but there was no nationwide strike covering all federal universities.

The claim that the development was being hidden by the media is also unsupported. Major Nigerian news organisations, including Channels Television, Punch, Premium Times and TheCable, had reported ASUU’s nationwide strike threat and the industrial actions by individual university branches.

Therefore, while ASUU branches at some universities had taken industrial action, ASUU had not commenced a nationwide strike involving all federal universities as claimed in the viral post.

VERDICT

The claim that ASUU had placed all federal universities in Nigeria on a nationwide strike as of 17 September 2026 is FALSE. The union had threatened to reactivate its suspended nationwide strike, while individual branches at some universities had embarked on separate industrial actions.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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