- Lecturers at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) begin indefinite strike over unpaid salaries for January and February 2026
- ASUU UNILAG chapter said that the university paid “amputated” salaries, withholding key allowances like Earned Academic Allowance (EAA)
- The Strike followed unresolved 2025 Federal Government/ASUU agreement, which approved a 40% increase in Consolidated Academic Allowance and research allowances from January 1, 2026
Lecturers at the University of Lagos have begun an indefinite strike, withdrawing their services from Wednesday in protest against what they described as incomplete salary payments for January and February 2026.
The decision was announced by the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNILAG chapter, Prof. Idou Keinde, who said the action followed a resolution reached during a union congress held on Tuesday, March 10.
According to Keinde, the lecturers resolved to suspend academic activities until the university pays their salaries in full in line with the 2025 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU, which took effect on January 1, 2026.
Keinde said, “We are withdrawing our services from tomorrow (Wednesday) morning until our salaries are fully paid.
“The Federal Government and ASUU signed an agreement effective January 1, and our salaries have not been complete since then, with the UNILAG administration paying amputated January and February 2026 salaries.”
The agreement, signed on January 14, 2026, approved a 40 per cent increase in the Consolidated Academic Allowance for ASUU members and the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance meant to support research activities.
The increase was expected to take effect from January 1.
Following the agreement, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had urged universities to utilise their available resources to ensure prompt salary payments, with an understanding that the Federal Government would later reimburse the institutions through the 2026 national budget.
However, Keinde said many universities have struggled to comply with the directive due to financial constraints.
“Before January, the minister of education made a release that mandated all universities to go and look for money to pay, from the Internally Generated Revenue. So most universities struggle to pay. But most universities didn’t say no to that directive.
“They took it as if they were going to carry it out, only for us to be paid in January, and we are not paid our full salary. And that’s why we call it amputated salary,” he said.
The ASUU chairman criticised the University of Lagos management for what he described as discriminatory payment of partial salaries to lecturers.
“In the UNILAG case, the university “discriminately paid amputated January and February salaries to all members,” he said
He explained that the lecturers’ salary structure consists of three components: the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS), the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), and the Professorial Allowance, alongside the Earned Academic Allowance.
Keinde detailed how the payments were handled across the two UNILAG campuses.
At the Akoka campus in January, he said CONUASS, CATA and the professorial allowance were paid, but the Earned Academic Allowance was withheld.
At the Idi-Araba campus, both the Earned Academic Allowance and CATA were not paid.
For February, the pattern also differed, with lecturers receiving only the Earned Academic Allowance and CONUASS, while the CATA and professorial allowance remained unpaid.
“Our salary has three segments. One is the Consolidated Salary Structure for Academics, in which we also have Earned Academic Allowance. The second is the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance. We call it CATA. And the third one is Professorial Allowance,” Keinde explained.
“For January, CONUAS was paid; other allowances were not paid. We then agitated. In the second week of February, they paid the CATA part of it. They didn’t pay us Earned Academic Allowance, but they paid a professorial allowance.
“Most universities struggled with the management. In our own, in UNILAG, they paid the allowances, leaving out the Earned Academic Allowance. When that of February came on Monday, it was only the Earned Allowance and CONUAS that were paid. The professorial allowance was left unpaid. The CATA was left unpaid.”
Keinde insisted that lecturers would not resume work until all outstanding payments are settled.
“The only development we want to hear from management is our salary paid in full. As of now, our salary is not paid,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, March 10, the union issued a communiqué following its emergency congress, condemning the university management’s handling of the salary payments.
The communiqué, signed by Keinde and the union’s secretary, Prof. Adesina Arikawe, described the partial payments as unacceptable.
It read, “Congress unanimously resolves as follows: reject in entirety the recent action that resulted in all our members getting amputated January and February 2026 salaries, as against what happened in other federal institutions of cognate status like UNILAG.
“To withdraw our services effective Wednesday, March 11, 2026, since the university has failed to pay our January and February 2026 salaries in full as of March 9, 2026.”
Keinde disclosed that the university management had reached out to him ahead of a possible dialogue.
He said the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services), Prof. Muyiwa Falaiye, contacted him and invited him to a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 11.
Meanwhile, a senior UNILAG official confirmed to the PUNCH on Tuesday evening that the university management was holding an internal meeting to address the situation.
The official said the outcome of the meeting would be communicated, although no formal resolution had been announced yet.