Nigeria’s government said on Wednesday it had released ₦2.3 billion to clear salary and promotion arrears owed to university lecturers, part of ongoing efforts to resolve long-running disputes with academic unions.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa said the funds, processed through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, represent the eighth batch of payments to university staff nationwide.
“A total of ₦2.311 billion, representing Batch 8 salary and promotion arrears, has been released through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to universities,” Alausa said in a statement issued by ministry spokesperson Folasade Boriowo. “Benefiting institutions should begin to receive payment alerts anytime from now.”
The government, he said, was finalising the release of third-party deductions and pension remittances and would begin full integration of the Earned Academic Allowance into university salaries from 2026 to ensure “predictable and sustainable payments.”
Alausa reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to reforming the tertiary education sector through “transparent, fair and sustainable” policies, adding that the government would not engage in “unsustainable fiscal practices.”
Negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions are ongoing through the Yayale Ahmed Committee, which the minister said serves as a bridge between the government and the unions.
However, several lecturers told Reuters that October salaries remain unpaid despite the ministry’s announcement.
“We are surprised at the announcement because October salaries have not been paid,” a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Another academic at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said salary delays had become frequent. “The government now feels the need to delay our salaries without any reason,” he said.
ASUU president Chris Piwuna could not be immediately reached for comment. A northern branch chairman of the union also confirmed that lecturers had not received their pay.
ASUU, which represents thousands of lecturers across Nigeria’s public universities, has long clashed with the government over withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and poor funding. The union recently suspended a two-week warning strike following mediation by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the National Assembly.
The lecturers’ demands include payment of withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries, implementation of the renegotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, and revitalisation funding for universities.
A committee led by former Head of Service Yayale Ahmed submitted a new report on the renegotiation in December 2024, but implementation has yet to begin.