Christopher Piwuna, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has explained why some federal universities were unable to pay their lecturers full salaries for January.
After nearly 16 years of implementation stalemate, the
federal government finally signed a renegotiated agreement with ASUU on January
14 to address the incessant strikes in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions.
The fresh agreement followed intensive renegotiations
between a federal government committee and ASUU leadership which was concluded
in December 2025.
However, since the beginning of February, there have been
reported delays in the payment of lecturers’ salaries across federal
universities.
Last week, ASUU members at the University of Lagos (UNILAG)
declared an indefinite strike over the non-payment of their full salaries by
the university management.
The lecturers later called off the strike after a series of
meetings with the management.
As of the time of filing this report, indications suggest
that many federal universities have been unable to pay full salaries of
lecturers.
A source familiar with developments within the academic
community told TheCable that the federal government is yet to release funds to
the universities.
According to the source, the ministry of education directed
the institutions to pay the full salaries of lecturers from their respective
internally generated revenue (IGR).
Piwuna said the situation is largely due to practical
difficulties surrounding the implementation of a new salary agreement between
the union and the federal government, particularly the delay in passage of the
2026 budget.
According to him, the government has shown a willingness to
implement the agreement in full, but the new salary structure cannot be fully
effected until the 2026 budget is passed and signed into law.
“Concerning the new agreement, the intention of government
is clear; it is to implement it in full. But I want to believe there are
practical difficulties at the moment. One is that the 2026 budget has not been
passed, let alone becoming law. It is until that is done that the new salary
structures will be fully implemented,” the ASUU president told Nigerian
Tribune.
He added that payments made in January and February largely
stemmed from the efforts of vice chancellors who tried to implement the
agreement with available resources.
“In January, some universities were paid in full. When I
said ‘in full’ it means that what they paid reflected what we agreed on in the
new agreement, while other universities couldn’t meet up with full payment,” he
said.
Piwuna added that as of the time of speaking, he was not
aware of any university that had paid salaries for February.
“Even for February, I don’t know of any university, as we
are speaking, that has paid its workers,” he said.
‘WHY IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS HAS BEEN COMPLICATED’
According to the ASUU president, the implementation process
has been complicated by issues relating to special allowances for lecturers in
the medical field, with some universities paying the allowance while others are
yet to do so.
He said the ministry of education is working with the
national salaries, incomes and wages commission to clarify the payment process
and ensure lecturers receive what is due to them.
Piwuna further said there have been questions from some vice
chancellors about whether lecturers on sabbatical should benefit from the new
agreement, underscoring that ASUU’s position is that such members are entitled
to full payment.
“We do not expect that anybody on sabbatical will be denied
any aspect of this agreement,” he said.
He also noted that state universities are yet to begin
implementing the agreement with their lecturers, adding that ASUU has written
to state governors, who are visitors to their respective universities, urging
them to ensure the agreement is implemented to avoid a backlog of arrears.
“We should know that ASUU agreements cover all members
across both federal and state-owned universities nationwide. So, we don’t want
any university to be left behind in this new agreement,” he said.
Piwuna appealed to lecturers across the public universities
to exercise patience over the delay in salary payments, expressing appreciation
to vice chancellors who have made efforts to ensure partial implementation of
the agreement.
He added that ASUU is hopeful the situation will improve
once the 2026 budget is signed into law, which he said is expected later this
month.
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