Taraba Varsity Lecturers Begin Indefinite Strike Over Pay Dispute
Academic activities at Taraba State University have been disrupted after the institution’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities began an indefinite strike over a remuneration dispute with the Taraba State Government.
The union said the total and comprehensive industrial action took effect on October 12, 2026.
ASUU-TSU says its two central demands are implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU remuneration agreement at the university and payment of salary arrears it says have accumulated from January 2026.
The strike leaves students facing uncertainty over lectures and other academic activities while the dispute remains unresolved.
Union Says Talks Began in February
ASUU-TSU chairman Dr Joshua Garba Mbave said the branch had been engaging the Taraba State Government over the dispute since February.
According to the union, those talks led to the creation of a verification committee to examine the existing salary structure and the level of implementation of the remuneration framework.
ASUU-TSU said the exercise was completed and the committee submitted its report on September 24.
The union said it then suspended a planned industrial action after the government, through the Office of the Head of Civil Service, requested additional time to address the outstanding issues.
The branch had previously granted another two-week period rather than immediately proceeding with a strike.
ASUU-TSU says that additional period passed without the implementation it was seeking.
Those descriptions of the negotiations and outstanding obligations remain the union’s account of the dispute.
Strike Follows Earlier Ultimatums
The latest action follows months of warnings.
The branch had earlier issued an ultimatum demanding implementation of the remuneration agreement.
By late September, it accepted a further request from the government for more time, postponing the threatened strike while talks continued.
The union now says the delay after completion of the verification process left it with no alternative but to begin industrial action.
It has also said it remains open to further dialogue.
Students Face Immediate Disruption
For students, the immediate consequence is disruption to academic activity at the Jalingo-based university.
An indefinite strike has no fixed end date.
How long the disruption lasts will depend on whether the union and the state government reach an agreement sufficient for lecturers to resume work.
IDNN is not assigning a duration to the strike or asserting specific examination or graduation delays because those consequences have not been established.
What ASUU Wants
The branch says it wants the 2025 remuneration framework implemented at Taraba State University and salary arrears it says accrued from January 2026 paid up to the point of full implementation.
The dispute should therefore not be reduced simply to a generic demand for better pay.
The key accountability questions are whether the state government accepts that the claimed arrears are due, what the verification exercise established, what implementation timetable has been offered and what remains unresolved after months of negotiations.
Government Response Remains Critical
The reporting reviewed by IDNN establishes the union’s demands and the sequence of negotiations, including the government’s earlier request for additional time.
It does not establish a detailed fresh Taraba State Government response, issued after the strike began, addressing each of the union’s claims.
That response remains necessary.
The government still needs to clarify whether it accepts the union’s account of the outstanding arrears, when the remuneration agreement will be implemented and what proposal it has made to restore normal academic activity.
Until those questions are answered, students remain caught in an unresolved labour dispute with no confirmed date for normal lectures to resume.
