UNICROSS in turmoil as ASUU resumes strike after 104-day suspension

By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) chapter, on Monday, resumed its strike after 104 days, accusing the government of failing to honour agreements that ended the last one. The chapter Chairman, Dr Patrick Ushie, who disclosed this in an interview with Vanguard in Calabar, said the decision to resume the strike was taken at a union meeting today (Monday) following the government’s failure to honour agreements that led to the suspension of the industrial action on July 21, 2026.

His words: “It is true that we have resumed the strike we initially called off on July 21 following a series of meetings with the government and its representatives. “However, certain agreements reached before the suspension have not been implemented as agreed by the government. “They have not only breached the timelines for implementation but have also failed to respond to our notices.

“This time around, we are not going to suspend or call off the strike until our grievances are addressed,” he said. Recall that the UNICROSS chapter of ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike on May 19, 2026, over welfare concerns and the non-implementation of agreements reached with the union’s national body. The union had listed 11 demands as the basis for the industrial action, including the implementation of the salary structure and other welfare benefits of academic staff.

Other demands included the immediate implementation of the non-financial components of the 2025 ASUU-Federal Government renegotiated agreement and increased government funding for the university. The union also demanded prompt payment of monthly salaries not later than the third day of each succeeding month. It further called for the payment of outstanding salaries and arrears of the 35 per cent and 25 per cent wage awards implemented in public universities since January 2023.

The union also demanded the remittance of outstanding check-off dues owed to ASUU-UniCross and its national body since 2017, amounting to N11.9 million, as well as deductions for December 2024 and November 2025. Other outstanding demands included the payment of promotion arrears and earned academic allowances accrued between July 2011 and December 2017 under the 2009 Federal Government-ASUU agreement.