Lecturers at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) are back on an indefinite strike after the local branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) resolved at its congress on Monday, October 5, 2026, to withdraw services over what it says is the underpayment of September 2026 salaries. It’s the second UNIBEN strike in less than a month, and it puts teaching, supervision and the processing of results on hold again for thousands of students in Benin City.
The resolution was announced in a statement signed by the branch chairman, Enaruna Edosa, and the secretary, Lucky Aimiyekagbon. The union said its members had not received their full September pay by the third day of October, which is the trigger point set by ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) for branches to stop work.
Congress resolved and invoked the extant NEC resolution that granted Branches authority to withdraw their services when salaries are not fully paid by the 3rd of the new month.
What the UNIBEN strike shuts down on campus
ASUU-UNIBEN directed members to stop undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, project and thesis supervision, seminars and attendance at statutory meetings. The directive also covers the compilation and submission of examination results, which matters to final-year students waiting on results for clearance, NYSC mobilisation or postgraduate applications.
The university management hadn’t issued a public response to the new strike at the time of writing. Students should watch the university’s official channels and their faculty notice boards for any changes to the academic calendar, rather than relying on forwarded messages.
- First strike begins over August payCalled off after about eight days
- Union warns over September paySets October 3 deadline
- Deadline for full September salaries
- Congress resolves to withdraw servicesStrike is indefinite
Dates are taken from ASUU-UNIBEN statements and the university's public response in September.
Why September pay pushed lecturers out again
The branch first raised the alarm in a statement dated September 30, giving the authorities until October 3 to pay September salaries in full and fixing the October 5 congress to decide its next step. In that statement, the union also objected to what it described as management dealing directly with individual lecturers over how salaries would be paid. It said any individual agreement reached outside the union’s collective bargaining framework “would be invalid”, and cited International Labour Organization conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
ASUU-UNIBEN has also pointed out that other federal universities, including those in Ilorin, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano, reportedly paid September salaries in full, and questioned why UNIBEN couldn’t do the same. That comparison hasn’t been confirmed by the Federal Government or the National Universities Commission.
The August row that set the stage
The same dispute closed UNIBEN in September. The branch began an indefinite strike on September 9, saying August pay was short. Management denied that staff were paid half salaries, and its spokesperson, Benedicta Ehanire, said “The Federal Government has paid the salaries of all categories of staff up to August, 2026.” The university explained that the payment in dispute was the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA), not salary.
That strike was called off after about eight days. Edosa said at the time that the university had “released outstanding entitlements and provided clear documentation on salary disbursements”, and that management had committed to resolving the Earned Academic Allowance component. The return of the strike within three weeks suggests those assurances haven’t settled the question of what counts as a full monthly payment at UNIBEN.
What UNIBEN students should do while lectures are off
If you’re a UNIBEN student, keep your documents and portal details in order so you aren’t caught out when work resumes. Final-year students waiting on results should keep copies of course registration forms and any result slips already released. If you’re applying for a student loan, the strike doesn’t change the national timetable, and the NELFUND 2026/2027 application window is still running, so it’s worth checking that your school records match what you enter.
UNIBEN isn’t the only campus affected this term. All four Lagos State-owned institutions remain shut after SSANU, NASU and NAAT joined ASUU at LASU, and the Lagos axis of the National Association of Nigerian Students has now given the state government 48 hours to resolve that dispute. Workers at Adekunle Ajasin University, by contrast, returned after the AAUA strike was suspended in late September. At UNIBEN, the September strike ended only after a fresh congress accepted management’s payment records, so students should expect the same route to any return this time.
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