FG Orders Federal Universities to Submit Data on Arrears Ahead of ₦2.3bn Lecturer Payments

The Federal Ministry of Education has directed vice chancellors of federal universities, via the National Universities Commission (NUC), to provide detailed information on outstanding promotion arrears, salaries, third-party deductions, and pension arrears.

The instruction, conveyed in a memo signed by J.N. Akpa, Deputy Director of Universities at the FME, comes after Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa announced that ₦2.3bn has been released for pending lecturer promotion arrears.

The memo stated, “All vice chancellors of federal universities are requested to supply data on outstanding promotion arrears, salaries, third-party deductions, and pension arrears to enable the Nigerian University Pension Management Company to facilitate payments.” Universities are required to submit the information in a tabular Excel format, both in hard and soft copies, to the NUC Executive Secretary’s office.

According to FME spokesperson Folasade Boriowo, the ₦2.3bn payment represents Batch 8 of salary and promotion arrears, processed through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Minister Alausa emphasized that the disbursement reflects President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to addressing long-standing welfare issues in the tertiary education sector transparently.

Alausa also confirmed that the release of third-party non-statutory deductions and pension contributions is underway and will be completed in the coming days. To ensure timely future payments, the government has approved the full integration of the Earned Academic Allowance into university staff salaries from 2026. Additional funds have been secured under the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities initiative.

This move comes amid ongoing negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which recently suspended a two-week warning strike. Remaining ASUU demands include payment of withheld salaries for three-and-a-half months, university revitalization funds, implementation of the 2009 ASUU–FG agreement, and clearance of promotion arrears and cooperative deductions. The latest renegotiation committee, chaired by Yayale Ahmed, submitted its report in December 2024, but implementation has not yet begun.