Lecturers at the University of Benin remain on an indefinite strike after the Academic Staff Union of Universities' local chapter resolved to continue the action until members receive full payment of their underpaid August salaries.
The union began the strike after members received only half their August pay, invoking a standing ASUU National Executive Council resolution allowing branches to withdraw services when salaries are not fully paid by the third of the following month, along with an emergency NEC resolution of September 5 directing affected federal university branches to take action.
The strike directive suspends teaching, supervision and attendance at departmental, faculty and Senate meetings, along with all other academic and administrative activity, for the duration of the action.
University management has disputed the union's account. In a statement, UNIBEN spokesperson Beneditta Ehannire said the Federal Government had paid the salaries of all staff categories in full, and that lecturers had mistaken payment of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance for their regular salary. The university said it would pay whatever was legitimately owed without delay and cautioned against what it called undue sensationalism of the dispute.
The UNIBEN strike is one of several similar disputes affecting federal universities this month, with ASUU chapters at Nnamdi Azikiwe University and universities in Ondo State also embarking on strikes over salary shortfalls tied to implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement.
ASUU has separately said a three-and-a-half-month balance of salaries withheld from an earlier industrial action remains unpaid nationally, alongside unremitted pension and cooperative deductions.
