WorldStage- The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma chapter, has declared a total, comprehensive, and indefinite strike action.
The industrial action officially commenced today, Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 12:01 a.m., effectively shutting down academic and administrative activities across the institution.
The Union declared the indefinite strike because the Edo State Government and university management failed to implement the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement and pay accrued allowance arrears.
According to the Union, the authorities failed to adopt and fund the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement at the state-owned institution six months after it took effect.
It said the school owed members accrued allowance arrears dating from January 2026 onward while the state government and university management did not respond or resolve the issues after ASUU issued a formal 14-day ultimatum.
Following commencement of the strike, lecturers have withdrawn teaching, project supervision, and exam duties. It has also halted statutory gatherings like Senate and faculty meetings.
However, the Edo State Government has responded to union pressures over the 2025 FGN/ASUU Agreement disputes through a mixture of administrative resistance, financial freeze, and hardline regulation, such as suspending union activities rather than tracking external branches.
Because the dispute stems from a national/zonal collective agreement, tracking other affected university branches is primarily conducted by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Benin Zone rather than the state government itself.
The government, instead of implementing the agreement, has historically adopted a hardline stance to manage the disputes by suspending Union activities.
Following local protests and strikes (such as those at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma), the state executive council has previously suspended all union operations—including ASUU, SSANU, and NASU—across state-owned institutions to force academic resumption.
State authorities have also withheld the critical funding necessary to implement the Consequential Adjustment to Academic Allowances (CATA) component and other wage adjustments mandated by the federal agreement.
In prioritizing state autonomy, the government treats the 2025 agreement as a federal directive rather than a state obligation, resulting in prolonged delays and a refusal to backdate or pay the arrears accumulated since January 2026.
The Edo State Government does not maintain an official tracker for external institutions. Instead, tracking is managed entirely by ASUU’s Benin Zonal Leadership, which coordinates responses across the region.
ASUU, according to sources, utilizes a centralized mobilization system to track compliance across the following branches.
The ASUU Benin Zone has issued a strict deadline demanding that the state governments implement the components of the 2025 pact or face a total and indefinite shutdown of academic calendars.
The academic branches are collectively demanding full payment of all accrued arrears from January 2026 to date.
