By Annette Ikponmwonba | September 17, 2026
Key Points
· ASUU at the University of Port Harcourt has declared an indefinite strike over incomplete salaries and responsibility allowances
· The union says the strike follows the university administration’s failure to address demands despite a meeting and assurances
· ASUU alleges its members have been sidelined in monthly responsibility allowance payments given to other unions for over two years
· Lecturers are owed incomplete salaries for June, July and August 2026, along with unpaid CONMESS and CONHESS allowances for health science lecturers
· The union gave management a 48 hour deadline that elapsed on September 15 before declaring the strike on September 16
· A strike monitoring team has been set up to ensure compliance across the university’s campuses and centres
Main Story
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Port Harcourt branch, has declared an indefinite strike over the incomplete payment of salaries and responsibility allowances to its members. ASUU Secretary at the university, Tarila Amakoromo, disclosed this in a statement sent to journalists on Thursday.
According to Amakoromo, the union held an emergency congress on Friday, September 11, 2026, where it resolved on several urgent matters, including incomplete payment of three months’ salary covering June, July and August 2026, incomplete payment of responsibility allowances, and non-payment of responsibility allowances to members under CONMESS and CONHESS, who are lecturers in the School of Health Sciences. The congress gave the university administration 48 working hours, ending at midnight on Tuesday, September 15, to resolve the issues or face an indefinite strike backed by the union’s national body.
The union said the university administration met with its representatives on September 11 and promised to respond to the demands before the deadline, but failed to act as promised. With the deadline elapsing without resolution, the branch declared the indefinite strike at a fresh emergency congress held on Wednesday, September 16.
The Issues
Beyond the immediate salary and allowance shortfalls, the union’s statement points to a deeper grievance around perceived inequity in how allowances are distributed across different unions on campus. ASUU specifically alleged that its members had been sidelined in the monthly payment of responsibility allowances given to members of other unions for over two years, a claim that, if accurate, suggests a longstanding structural issue in how the university has managed compensation across its various staff unions rather than a one off payment delay.
The inclusion of CONMESS and CONHESS allowance non-payment also broadens the scope of the dispute to affect health science lecturers specifically, a group whose responsibilities often carry additional clinical or teaching obligations tied to those allowance structures. This adds another layer of complexity to the university’s negotiations, since resolving the dispute will likely require addressing multiple distinct payment categories rather than a single unified salary arrear.
The breakdown in trust following the administration’s unmet promise from the September 11 meeting also appears to have hardened the union’s position, turning what could have been a negotiated resolution into a swift escalation to indefinite strike action within less than a week.
What’s Being Said
The union was pointed in describing the administration’s conduct, stating that despite meeting with the union and promising to respond to demands before the deadline, the university regrettably refused to act as promised, ASUU also laid out strict compliance expectations for its members during the strike, stating clearly that members are not supposed to give lectures or examinations, invigilate examinations, or participate in any official assignments or statutory meetings for the duration of the action. The union confirmed that a strike monitoring team has been mandated to monitor compliance across the university’s campuses and centres, signaling an intent to enforce the strike rigorously rather than leave compliance voluntary.
What’s Next
Attention will now turn to whether the University of Port Harcourt administration moves swiftly to address the outstanding salary and allowance issues to bring the strike to an end, or whether the dispute drags on and prompts further escalation, potentially drawing in ASUU’s national leadership more directly given that the local action is already backed by the national body.
Students and academic activities at the university face disruption for as long as the strike continues, and the university calendar could be significantly affected depending on how quickly the salary and allowance disputes are resolved.
Bottom Line
UNIPORT’s indefinite ASUU strike reflects a breakdown in trust after the university failed to honour a direct commitment to address salary and allowance grievances within an agreed deadline, leaving academic activities at the institution disrupted until the underlying payment disputes, some allegedly unresolved for over two years, are finally addressed.
