FG Blames Universities For Pay Rise, ASUU President Says
BY HENRY TYOHEMBA, Abuja, FRANCIS OKOYE, Maiduguri, ABU NMODU, Minna, ACHOR ABIMAJE, Jos, PATRICK OCHOGA, Benin, ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, Port Harcourt, ADEBAYO WAHEED, Ibadan, SAMUEL ABULUDE, Lagos, JOSUA DADA, Osogbo, FEMI OYEWESO, Abeokuta
Fresh concerns have emerged across the federal university system over the implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase for university lecturers, with some institutions unable to pay the full salary package.
The development, almost eight months after the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) agreed on the increase, has forced some universities to stop payment they initially started, citing lack of funds.
Findings across some federal universities revealed that institutions that had started implementing the increment were forced to suspend it as their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) could not carry the additional wage bill anymore.
Top ASUU officials told our correspondents that after the federal government and the union signed the renegotiated agreement on January 14, 2026, with the 40 per cent upward review of academic staff remuneration backdated to January 1, the government directed universities to source the increase from their IGR.
However, none of the ASUU officials could produce the alleged federal government memo directing universities to do so.
The federal government had on February 1 announced the commencement of implementation of the increase and directed federal universities to include the new salaries in their payroll systems. But implementation has been patchy.
By August, a number of universities had not yet fully implemented the increment, whereas some that had begun paying it had stopped. The development has forced ASUU branches to issue ultimatums and demand adherence to the agreement.
Most university managements contacted refused to explain the reasons for the shortfalls.
Senior officials of ASUU also expressed surprise at how vice-chancellors of institutions that have continued to pay their lecturers in full managed to sustain the payments, despite the funding challenges.
How UNIBEN Dumped Half Salaries
While some universities were said to have been having payment difficulties since May, the issue remained largely out of the public domain until the ASUU branch of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) raised the alarm on Monday.
Academic activities at UNIBEN were overshadowed by anxiety after lecturers received just half of their August salaries while non-academic staff reportedly received their full salaries.
Sources at the university said the payment did not include the usual allowances and this had left many lecturers, especially those servicing loans taken out through the university, distressed.
In a notice to members, the UNIBEN ASUU branch said it had met with the university management over the development and advised members not to panic.
The notice, signed by the branch secretary, Dr L. O. Aimiyekagbon, said the union had been assured by the university authorities that more salary alerts would be received.
But sources familiar with the matter said the university paid the August salaries from its IGR after the federal government failed to release its monthly subvention to the institution.
Yesterday, the branch chairman, Enaruna Edosa, said the executive committee would meet before calling a congress to decide the union’s response.
Speaking with Edosa said the members would ultimately decide the way forward.
“We are meeting as the executive committee now to discuss the matter, and afterward we will convene a congress where all members will participate and decide the way forward. “Our members will lead us,” he said.
When contacted, the university’s public relations officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, declined to comment, saying the ASUU leadership was better placed to speak on the matter.
The last time the academic staff of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, got the 40 per cent salary increase was in May.
The university’s ASUU branch chairman, Prof. Lookman Oyewobi, said the development was in line with the federal government’s directive that universities should source the fund for the increment from their internally generated funds.
He said the management was able to absorb the additional salary component from January to May before it stopped the payment as it could no longer afford the cost.
Oyewobi said the university’s IGR could not be diverted to sustain the salary increase because the funds were tied to services that students were charged for specific purposes.
The university had not received any additional federal allocation to cover the increase, he said, and staff were becoming increasingly agitated.
Oyewobi said FUT Minna’s situation was relatively better as management had sustained the additional payment for five months, unlike many other universities that could not do so.
The university’s head of Information, Lydia Legbo, when asked whether salaries had been paid, simply stated, “Salary was paid,” but declined to comment further.
The chairman of ASUU at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State, Mohammed Waziri, told The Associated Press that union members also received part of their salaries in August.
Waziri explained that only 10 per cent of the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) as well as professional allowance for members in veterinary and human medicine was not paid.
He said the university has paid members’ salaries for June, July and August, but the federal government’s reimbursement is still outstanding.
When contacted, the university’s public relations officer, Hajiya Amina Abdullahi, said the management was in a meeting and could not say when it would end.
She had not responded at the time of filing the report.
However, Prof. Idowu Keinde, the chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter, challenged the assertion that the UNIBEN shortfall was a consequence of the university’s inability to receive federal allocation.
“It is not true that members of UNIBEN ASUU were paid half salaries because the university did not receive federal allocation. Those findings should be well established. Back to your question, we did not get full salaries; in fact, no staff at UNILAG did, and it’s not because of federal allocations. “Our National Executive Committee has taken cognizance of this development and will deal with it,” he said.
The ASUU branch chairman at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Dr Ola Olusegun Oyedele said the university did not pay the lecturers their full August salaries because the university did not include the Enhanced Academic Allowance (EAA).
Oyedele, who spoke in Abeokuta yesterday, said FUNAAB management had paid only three months out of the eight months of the EAA arrears owed lecturers.
“The five-month bailout fund was released by the federal government, only two months was given to FUNAAB because we are a specialized university. That was the reason why the institution released the three-month EAA,” he added.
Minister’s Aide Directs NUC To Probe
The Federal Ministry of Education has ordered an investigation into the delay in the payment of August salaries of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Ikharo Attah, the special adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Education, refused to comment on the situation at UNIBEN and the issue of half salaries, saying the question should be directed to the public relations officer of the university concerned and possibly the NUC.
OAU, UNIPORT, FUTA To Get Full Salaries
However, the reports of salary shortfalls are not uniform across the federal university system.
Prof. Al-Amin Abdullahi, the zonal coordinator of ASUU who is also a lecturer at the Federal University, Lafia, told that salaries were being paid at his institution.
“I am at the university, Federal University of Lafia, and salary has been paid,” Abdullahi said.
But he said the Abuja Zone had no statistics to show how many federal universities might have had the same problem.
At the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), ASUU members said they had no knowledge of any shortfall in lecturers’ salaries.
Prof. Emmanuel Ngoke, the university’s ASUU chairman, refused to comment on the issue but a senior ASUU official who asked not to be named said the union’s members in the university and its Owerri Zone had not been paid half salary.
“University of Port Harcourt is in the Owerri zone, and we are yet to have any short payment of salaries among members of ASUU in the zone. He said, “We’ve never seen anything like it.”
Lecturers at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, also said they received their full August salaries.
The institution’s ASUU chairman, Pius Mogaji, disclosed this while reacting to reports of half salary payments at UNIBEN.
He said the situation did not affect the Federal University of Technology, Akure, where lecturers had received their full salaries for August.
Members of ASUU at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife had also been paid their salaries through August 2026.
However, the union’s chairman, Prof. Tony Odiwe, said the federal government had not failed to cash-back the payments as agreed with ASUU.
“My vice-chancellor has managed to pay us our full salary till August. I don’t know how he is doing it, but our salaries are being paid. That is all I can say at present,” he said.
Also, the chairman of ASUU, University of Jos (UNIJOS) chapter, Prof. Jurbe Joseph Molwus, said lecturers at the university had continued to receive their full salary package.
He stressed that the half salary situation was not the situation in UNIJOS, but said that the university’s ability to pay did not mean the federal government had remitted the needed funds.
“Only the ingenuity of the current university leadership under Prof. “The full package of their salaries is not being funded and all the federal universities are suffering because of that,” he said.
When this report was being filed yesterday, ASUU national president, Prof. Christopher Piwuna’s mobile line was switched off and could not be reached for comment.
