The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has suspended its strike hours after the industrial action began on Wednesday.
The decision was made following a meeting between academics and university management chaired by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Services), Prof. Foluso Lesi, on Wednesday morning, as well as a resolution passed at the union’s congress later that afternoon.
The UNILAG branch of ASUU urged its members to withdraw their services on Tuesday, effective Wednesday, in protest of what it termed “amputated” January and February 2026 pay.
The union had accused the university administration of failing to pay the Earned Academic Allowance and Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance for Research on the Akoka and Idi-Araba campuses in January, as well as the Consolidated Academic Teaching Allowance and Professorial Allowance in February.
The chairman of ASUU, UNILAG chapter, Prof. Idou Keinde, said the union suspended the strike after the university administration promised to address the issues raised within 48 hours.
According to him, negotiations with management focused on aligning perspectives on earned academic allowances and professorial allowances for excess workload.
Keinde stated that the union has also been asked to present documented evidence from the compensation structure outlined in the Federal Government/ASUU 2025 agreement.
Keinde said, “We met with the administration; they made some promises and said they would act in the next 48 hours. ASUU is a union of intellectuals and principles. We are always procedural in whatever we want to do. We cannot throw away all their submissions.
“As far as they have invited us, we have to listen to them. We took what they offered in good faith, as opposed to what some of them had earlier bandied around, that we acted in bad faith.
“The issue is our allowances. They only took one aspect out of three and disregarded two. Even the one they took, which is the Earned Allowance, was incomplete. They mutilated it, and we drew their attention to it.
“If you saw our salary structure, you would know what a professor should get for excess workload.
“They challenged us to produce a paper on a signed agreement, which they also have. But we said we would provide a paper to show that the correct earned allowance for excess workload was not paid every month. We resolved that issue, and they promised to look into it within the next 48 hours.”
He mentioned that the decision to suspend the strike was taken during a congress held around 2 pm on Wednesday in order not to disrupt ongoing examinations.
“The action is suspended. We have vacated the residence. The 48 hours have already started counting,” he said.
Keinde also stated that the union would not allow students writing examinations to suffer because of the dispute.
“We cannot have them as pawns on a chessboard because our children are also here. If anybody says anything contrary to what we have on the ground, it is a lie and a false representation of what is going on,” he said.
Previously, the institution, through its head of communication unit, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, chastised ASUU for launching an industrial action without a proper process.
The administration, however, stated that it would continue to work with the union to fix the concerns, particularly the outstanding consolidated academic teaching allowances.
It also stated that the continuing students’ exams scheduled for Wednesday would go as planned.
Chronicle NG gathered that examinations were conducted in several departments on Wednesday, while a few were postponed till Thursday.
