Varsities Face Fresh Crisis as Lecturers Lament Unpaid Salary Shortfalls

FG Blames Universities For Pay Rise, ASUU President Speaks

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 are emerging across the federal university system on 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 followed the agreement between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the increase about eight months ago, has made some universities to stop payment they initially commenced, citing lack of funds.

Findings across some federal universities revealed that institutions that had started to implement the increment were forced to suspend it because their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) could no longer bear 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 directed universities to source the increase from their IGR.

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

The federal government announced on Feb. 1 that it was starting to roll out the increase and told federal universities to factor the new salaries into their payroll systems. Nevertheless, implementation has been uneven.

Some universities had not fully implemented the increment by August and others who had started paying it had stopped. The development has compelled ASUU branches to issue ultimatums and insist on the implementation of the agreement.

Most university managements contacted refused to state 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

Although some universities were rumored to have been having payment problems since May, the issue remained largely out of the public domain until ASUU branch of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) raised the alarm on Monday.

There is anxiety in UNIBEN over academic activities as lecturers were paid half of their August salaries, while non-academic staff were said to have gotten 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 on the development and advised members not to panic.

The union has been assured by the university authorities that more salary alerts would be received,” the notice signed by the branch secretary, Dr L. O. Aimiyekagbon said.

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 to Edosa said the members will ultimately determine 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 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 branch chairman of ASUU in the university, Prof. Lookman Oyewobi, said the development followed the directive of the federal government that universities should source the fund for the increment from their internally generated funds.

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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.

He said the university’s IGR could not be diverted to sustain the salary increase as the funds were tied to services students were charged for specific purposes.

With no more federal money coming to the university to pay for the increase, he said, 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.

Lydia Legbo, the university’s head of Information, declined to comment further when asked if salaries had been paid, saying only, “Salary was paid.”

Union members at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State also received part of their salaries in August, ASUU chairman Mohammed Waziri told The Associated Press.

Waziri said that only 10 per cent of the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and the professional allowance for members in veterinary and human medicine were not paid.

“The university has paid the salaries of members for June, July and August but the reimbursement from the federal government is still outstanding,” he said.

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 shortfall at UNIBEN was a consequence of the inability of the university to receive the federal allocation.

“It is not true that members of UNIBEN ASUU were paid half salaries because the university did not receive federal allocation. Those results should be well known. Now back 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 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).

He spoke in Abeokuta yesterday and said FUNAAB management had paid only three months 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 Calls On NUC To Investigate

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, declined to comment on the situation at UNIBEN and the matter 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

But reports of salary shortfalls are not consistent across the federal university system.

Prof. Al-Amin Abdullahi, zonal coordinator of ASUU and a lecturer at the Federal University, Lafia, said salaries were still being paid at his institution.

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“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 the number of federal universities that might have experienced the same difficulty.

ASUU members at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) said they were not aware 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 asked not to be named, said the union’s members in the university and its Owerri Zone had not received half salary.

“The 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 never seen such a thing before,” he said.

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

The ASUU Chairman of the institution, Pius Mogaji, made this known in reaction to reports of half salary payments at UNIBEN.

He said the situation did not affect FUTA where lecturers had received their full salaries for August.

Besides, ASUU members 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 managed to pay us our full salary up until August. I don’t know how he is doing it, but we are getting paid our salaries. ‘That is all I can say at this time,’ he said.

The chairman of ASUU, University of Jos (UNIJOS) chapter, Prof. Jurbe Joseph Molwus, also said that lecturers in 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.

“It is only the ingenuity of the present leadership of the university under Prof. “The full package of their salaries is not being funded and all the federal universities are suffering because of that,” he said.

As 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.