Fresh Crisis Hits Nigerian Universities Over Lecturers’ Salary Shortfalls

FG Passed On Pay Rise Responsibility To Varsities, ASUU Leader Claims

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

There are fresh concerns across the federal university system about the implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase for university lecturers, with some institutions unable to pay the full salary package.

The development, which came about eight months after the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) agreed on the increase, has led some universities to stop payment they initially commenced, citing lack of funds.

Findings across some federal universities showed that institutions that had begun to implement the increment were forced to suspend it as their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) could no longer carry the additional wage bill.

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 ordered universities to fund the increase from their IGR.

But the ASUU officials could not tender the alleged memo from the federal government directing universities to do so.

The federal government had announced on February 1 that it was beginning to implement the increase and had directed federal universities to include the new salaries in their payroll systems. But implementation has been spotty.

By August, some universities had not fully implemented the increment while others who had started paying it had stopped. The development has forced ASUU branches to issue ultimatums and insist on the implementation of the agreement.

Most university managements contacted declined to give reasons for the shortfalls.

Senior ASUU officials 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 Blew Off Half Salaries

Although 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.

Anxiety has engulfed academic activities at UNIBEN as lecturers received only half of their August salaries, while non-academic staff reportedly got 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 chapter said it had met with the university management over the development and advised members not to panic.

Signed by the branch secretary, Dr L. O. Aimiyekagbon, the notice 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.

Branch chairman Enaruna Edosa told yesterday that the executive committee would meet before calling a congress to decide the union’s response.

Speaking to Edosa said the members will eventually 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. “It is our members who will guide us,” he said.

The university’s public relations officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, declined to comment when contacted, saying the ASUU leadership was in a better position to speak on the matter.

Academic staff of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, last received the 40 per cent salary increase in May.

The university’s branch chairman of ASUU, Prof. Lookman Oyewobi, said that the development was in line with the directive of the federal government that universities should source the fund for the increment from their internally generated funds.

He said the management had managed to cover the additional salary component from January to May before discontinuing the payment as it could no longer afford the cost.

The university’s IGR, Oyewobi said, could not be diverted to sustain the salary increase because the funds were tied to services that students were charged for specific purposes.

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The university had not been given any more federal money to cover the increase, he said, and staff were getting more and more agitated.

He said FUT Minna was relatively better off as the management had sustained the additional payment for five months, unlike many other universities that could not sustain it.

The university’s head of Information, Lydia Legbo, when asked whether salaries had been paid, simply said, “Salary was paid,” but refused to comment further.

The ASUU chairman 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 said 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.

The university has paid members’ salaries for June, July and August, he said, 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.

At the time of filing the report she had not responded.

However, Prof. Idowu Keinde, the chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter challenged the assertion that the shortfall at UNIBEN was a consequence of the university’s inability to receive the federal allocation.

“It is not true that UNIBEN ASUU members were paid half salaries because the university did not get federal allocation. Those results should be well established. Returning to your question, we didn’t get our full salaries, in fact, no staff of UNILAG got theirs and it wasn’t because of federal allocations. “Our National Executive Committee has taken notice 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 only paid three months out of the eight months of the EAA arrears owed lecturers.

“When the five-month bailout fund was released by the federal government, it was only two months that FUNAAB received because we are a specialized university. “That was the reason why the institution released the three-month EAA,” he added.

Minister’s Aide Asks NUC To Investigate

The Federal Ministry of Education has ordered investigations into the delayed payment of August salaries to the National Universities Commission (NUC).

The special adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Education, Ikharo Attah, declined to comment on the situation at UNIBEN and the issue of half salaries, saying the question should be channeled to the public relations officer of the university concerned and possibly the NUC.

FUTA, UNIPORT, OAU To Get Full Salaries

But the reports of salary shortfalls are not consistent 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 still being paid at his institution.

“I’m in the university, Federal University of Lafia, and salary has been paid,” Abdullahi said.

He, however, said the Abuja Zone had no statistics to show the number of federal universities that might have gone through the same difficulty.

ASUU members at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) said they were unaware of any shortfall in the payment of lecturers’ salaries.

Prof. Emmanuel Ngoke, the university’s ASUU chairman, declined to comment on the issue but a senior ASUU official who preferred 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 Owerri zone, and we have not had any short payment of salaries among members of ASUU in the zone. “We have not yet experienced such a thing,” he said.

Lecturers at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State also said they got their full August salaries.

The institution’s ASUU chairman, Pius Mogaji, made this known 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 been paid their full salaries for August.

Also, members of ASUU at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife had been paid their salaries up to August 2026.

But the union’s chairman, Prof. Tony Odiwe, said the federal government did not fail to cash-back the payments as agreed with ASUU.

“My vice-chancellor has been able to pay us our full salary till August. I don’t know how he is doing it, but our salaries are getting paid. That is all I can say at this time,” he said.

Also, the chairman of ASUU, University of Jos (UNIJOS) chapter, Prof. Jurbe Joseph Molwus, said lecturers in the university had continued to receive their full salary package.

He stressed that the half salary situation did not apply to UNIJOS, but said the university’s ability to pay did not mean the federal government had remitted the necessary funds.

“It is only the ingenuity of the present leadership of the university under Prof. Tanko Ishaya. All the federal universities are suffering because of lack of funding for the full package of their salaries,” he said.

At the time this report was being filed yesterday, ASUU national president, Prof. Christopher Piwuna had switched off his mobile line and could not be reached for comment.