The Academic Staff Union of Universities has instructed its members across the country to begin an indefinite strike over the delayed payment of their June salaries, reports thegazellenews.com

According to ASUU’s leadership, this decision is in line with the union’s policy of no pay no work.

ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, confirmed the development to Tribune Online on Monday, 7 July, 2025, in Abuja. He explained that universities are only enforcing a National Executive Council resolution, which states that if salaries are delayed beyond three days into the new month, members should stop work until they are paid.

Piwuna criticised government officials for their indifferent attitude towards the issue of lecturers’ salaries, describing the salaries as meagre.

He explained that since university workers were moved from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, members have been facing serious difficulties due to salary delays.

He said the union had engaged with government officials, including the Minister of Education and the Accountant General of the Federation, but there was no positive outcome. As a result, the ASUU NEC decided to enforce the “No Pay, No Work” policy.

He said: “What they are doing is just enforcing a NEC resolution. We have agreed at NEC that our members are going through a lot since our migration out of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System. Certainly, our salaries are delayed for a week and sometimes 10 days before our members receive the paltry amount we get to help us carry out our duties well.

Therefore, we agreed that if there is no pay, there will be no work,” Piwuna said.

When asked if other universities would join the strike, the ASUU President said every institution that has not received payment is expected to stop work, stressing that this was the NEC’s resolution and the only way to address the issue, which he said is being deliberately caused by certain government officials, particularly at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

He stated that any institution yet to be paid will join the strike because “we are tired of talking about this.”

“We have spoken to the relevant authorities—the minister is aware, the Office of the Accountant General is aware. All those concerned are aware that this thing has been happening. We’ve had meetings with them to express our dissatisfaction with the way our salaries are being paid, and they have not taken any action. We want to work, but we cannot because they have not allowed us to work,” he stated.

Piwuna stressed that there is no valid reason for the government to delay salary payments, as the payment platform has no issues.

He noted that once funds are released to universities, there are no complaints about underpayment or non-payment of salaries.

“So, the platform through which the payment is effected has not been the problem. It’s just a deliberate effort by the Office of the Accountant General to delay the release of the funds. The platform is working well, but those who make it work are not willing to make it work. We think it’s a deliberate act; that is the point we are making,” the ASUU President added.

He also highlighted that salary delay is currently the most urgent problem for union members, and warned that the government must release the outstanding N10 billion Earned Academic Allowance without delay to prevent another crisis.

He said the government was expected to pay N50 billion in total, but only N40 billion has been disbursed, leaving a balance of N10 billion.

“On the EAA you talked about, the total amount was N50 billion, and what they gave to us is N40 billion. N10 billion is still outstanding. We hope that this is paid quickly so that we do not have to fight over it,” the ASUU President said.

Chairman of the University of Jos branch of ASUU, Jurbe Molwus, announced that members of the union at the university had stopped work due to the delay in their June 2025 salaries.

Molwus explained that the action followed the National Executive Council resolution, which directs branches to act whenever salaries are not paid by the third day of a new month, with the congress supporting this decision. He said union members have stopped attending lectures and statutory meetings.

The Chairman added that any time salaries are delayed beyond the third day of the month, lecturers would continue to withdraw their services.

He also mentioned that the branch’s strike monitoring team had been activated to ensure full compliance.

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the University of Abuja also withdrew their services on Monday over the delay in the payment of their June 2025 salaries, according to Nigerian Tribune.

Chairman of the UniAbuja branch of ASUU, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh, did not respond to calls to confirm the strike action by his members.

However, the spokesperson for the University of Abuja, Dr. Habib Yakoob, said he was not in a position to comment on the matter and advised that questions about the June salaries or the strike should be directed to the ASUU branch chairman.

The Nigerian Air Force says multiple terrorists were eliminated after carrying out precision air strikes on a Boko Haram hideout located in the Mandara Mountains of Borno state.

In a statement released on Monday, Ehimen Ejodame, spokesperson for the NAF, stated that the strikes were executed on Sunday under Operation Hadin Kai, following intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.

Ejodame explained that the air strikes specifically targeted Wa Jahode and Loghpere, which have been identified as major strongholds of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad faction of Boko Haram.

He pointed out that the mountainous region close to the Cameroon border had recently seen increased terrorist activities, including the stockpiling of supplies and sightings of top JAS commanders.

According to the NAF spokesperson, surveillance operations uncovered clusters of buildings fitted with solar panels, black flags, and fortified structures, all suggesting a resurgence of insurgent activity.

He noted that NAF fighter jets were deployed to carry out coordinated air attacks, successfully destroying the terrorists’ logistics hubs, command centres, and defensive shelters.

Ejodame said the air strikes dealt a serious blow to the insurgents by disrupting their supply lines and reducing their capacity to carry out further attacks.

He added that the air force remains determined to continue operations to help restore peace in the region.

The United States attorney’s office has initiated a complaint involving 40,353 USDT.ETH in cryptocurrency stolen through a business email compromise scheme.

According to the complaint, which was filed last Wednesday, the fraudster(s) posed as the Trump-Vance inaugural committee and deceived a donor into transferring $250,300 in cryptocurrency, which was later laundered through various wallets.

The complaint stated that the victims received an email on December 24, 2024, from an individual claiming to be Steve Witkoff, who was then the co-chair of the committee and now serves as the US special envoy to the Middle East.

The US attorney’s office clarified in a statement that authentic emails from the Trump-Vance inaugural committee use the domain @t47inaugural.com.

“The email received by victim was from @t47lnaugural.com with the lowercase ‘I’ was replaced by a lowercase ‘L.’ Depending on the font, the lowercase “L” can look like the uppercase ‘I’,” the statement reads

“The imposter Steve Witkoff, a scammer located in Nigeria, instructed the victims to deposit funds into a cryptocurrency wallet ending in 58c52.”

The statement explained that on December 26, the victim transferred 250,300 USDT.ETH to the crypto wallet, believing it was for the inaugural committee.

“Within two hours after receiving the funds from the victim, the funds moved from the 58c52 crypto wallet to other cryptocurrency addresses,” the statement added.

“Through blockchain analysis, the FBI identified and recovered 40,300 USDT.ETH, which is the property subject to forfeiture in this civil action.”

The complaint is seeking to recover the funds in order to compensate the victim.