THE CAMPAIGN for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) has expressed solidarity with lecturers of Lagos State-owned universities who embarked on strike over demands for the implementation and domestication of the December 2025 agreement between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal/State Governments.
In a statement signed by its National Chairman, Comrade Rufus Olusesan, and National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Chinedu Bosah, CDWR called on the Lagos State Government to immediately implement the agreement in the state-owned universities.
The strike affects academic activities at Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), and Lagos State University of Education (LASUED).
According to CDWR, the industrial action followed the expiration of a strike notice and deadline issued by the Lagos State-owned Universities Joint Campus Group of ASUU to the state government. The organisation said the deadline expired on September 10, 2026, after what it described as the government’s failure to meaningfully engage with the lecturers or implement the agreement.
CDWR said the lecturers’ demands include the implementation of the December 2025 ASUU-Federal Government agreement, including the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA).
The organisation argued that the state government should be held responsible for the disruption of academic activities arising from the strike, alleging that it had failed to take steps to resolve the issues raised by the lecturers before the industrial action commenced.
“Lagos State government should be blamed for the strike action and the disruption of academic activities” in the affected institutions, CDWR said.
The group also maintained that the Lagos State Government had sufficient resources to meet the lecturers’ demands and adequately fund public education.
It attributed what it described as inadequate investment in social services to a “neo-liberal agenda” that, according to the organisation, places social services behind commercial and private interests.
CDWR called for increased government funding of education and other social services, including healthcare and housing, arguing that public investment in these sectors was necessary to meet the needs of residents.
The organisation further urged students, parents and members of the public to support the striking lecturers, framing the dispute as part of a wider struggle to protect public education.
It appealed to the striking lecturers to make the industrial action “an active one” by organising protests, rallies, press conferences and other activities aimed at mobilising public support for their demands.
In addition to the implementation of the 2025 agreement, CDWR called for the “immediate and unconditional reinstatement” of ASUU-LASU members whom it said had been politically victimised for the past seven years by the university’s management and the state government; although it did not provide further details in the statement on the individual cases or circumstances surrounding the alleged victimisation.
CDWR also appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other pro-labour organisations to support the striking lecturers and what it described as the broader campaign to prevent the collapse of public education.
The dispute comes amid continuing debates over funding, working conditions and staff welfare in Nigeria’s public university system. In Lagos, the immediate impact of the industrial action is on academic activities in the three state-owned universities affected by the strike.
