The Federal Government has approved a 25% pay increase for lecturers in all federal institutions, marking a departure from its previous stance of not raising their pay.
The decision was communicated in a circular marked: OAuGF/ SW/C/QP/1395/VOL.1/11, and dated September 21, 2023, which was issued by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation to Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
The Auditor General said the implementation was approved by the Presidential Committee on Salaries at its 13th meeting. This is coming after the salaries of professors were raised by 35%.
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The circular said that the decision was taken after taking into consideration various stages of collective bargaining.
The upward review of salaries of lecturers, professors, and academic staff has been an integral part of demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), leading to repeated industrial strikes.
This circular followed a letter from the Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC) dated September 14, 2023. The letter was addressed to the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, and conveyed the government’s decision to raise the salaries of workers in federal government institutions, including the 25% pay raise for lecturers.
According to the letter, which was signed by Ekpo Nta, Chairman of the Commission, the 23.5% earlier approved was increased to 25%.
In the letter, Nta expressed satisfaction with the positive outcomes achieved through informal discussions with the Minister. It conveyed the Commission’s commitment to supporting the Minister’s efforts to revamp the education sector. The letter also included additional circulars related to the four salary structures in universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
The decision seems to have brought a reprieve to the contention between the federal government and ASUU regarding the salaries of federal university lecturers.
Former Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, had previously maintained that the Federal Government could only manage a 23.5% salary increase for all employee categories in federal universities. However, individuals in the professorial cadre were approved to receive a higher increase of 35% in their salaries.
Adamu, who initiated the controversial no work no pay policy, said last year that “A sum of N150 billion shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget as funds for the revitalization of federal universities, to be disbursed to the institutions in the first quarter of the year,” and “That a sum of N50 billion shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget for the payment of outstanding areas of earned academic allowances, to be paid in the first quarter of the year.”
But ASUU reiterated its stance that it will not accept any salary increase proposed by the Federal Government without subjecting it to collective bargaining in accordance with labor law provisions.