Get Guardian on GoogleHealthcare professionals working in Nigeria’s federal universities have rejected a new circular by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission excluding them from the Consolidated Non-Teaching Tools Allowance (CONTTA), threatening legal action if the decision is not reversed.
The affected medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists and allied health professionals, under the Coalition of Healthcare Professionals in Tertiary Education Institutions of Nigeria, described the November 11 circular as discriminatory and inconsistent with earlier government directives on the allowance.
The coalition also accused the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of failing to protect their interests, despite collecting monthly check-off dues from the affected workers.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its National Chairman and Coordinator, Musa Shehu, CHPTEIN said the disputed circular, with reference number SWC/S/04/S.149/T/187, restricted CONTTA payment to employees on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure, excluding those on the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure and Consolidated Health Salary Structure.
It alleged that the commission further directed federal universities to recover, within three months, CONTTA arrears already paid to healthcare professionals in more than 13 institutions.
The coalition said the directive came days before the expiration of a 21-day pre-action notice it had served on SSANU and NASU, warning that it would challenge the circular at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
CHPTEIN argued that the latest NSIWC directive contradicted the commission’s earlier circulars of July 20, 2026, which introduced CONTTA with effect from January 1, 2026, for members of SSANU and NASU.
According to the coalition, the original circulars, referenced SWC/S/04/S.149/V/1067 for SSANU and SWC/S/04/S.149/IV/1071 for NASU, did not expressly exclude healthcare professionals on CONMESS and CONHESS.
It maintained that the affected workers were non-teaching employees of federal universities and legitimate members of the two unions, whose check-off dues were regularly deducted from their salaries.
The group also cited a Federal Ministry of Education clarification issued on October 16, 2026, following pre-action notices it said were served on 20 federal universities over their failure to pay the allowance.
It said the ministry, in a circular referenced FME/TE/SS.IM/C./Vol.I/6, clarified that funds released to federal universities were intended to cover CONTTA payments for all non-teaching employees, irrespective of their union affiliation.
The statement quoted the ministry as saying, “The Budget Office of the Federation calculated the financial implications of CONTTA based on the entire workforce of the Non-teaching staff on the payroll.”
CHPTEIN further said the ministry warned in paragraph five of the circular that vice-chancellors who deviated from the approved scope of funds released by the Federal Government would face appropriate sanctions.
The coalition questioned why healthcare professionals were being excluded from the allowance if the funds released to universities had been calculated based on the entire non-teaching workforce.
It also raised concerns over the whereabouts of funds allegedly budgeted and released for healthcare workers in universities that had yet to implement the payment.
The disagreement has reportedly heightened tension in some university health facilities, with the coalition citing protests at the University of Lagos Medical Centre earlier in the week over the exclusion of healthcare workers from the allowance.
It accused SSANU and NASU national leaderships of failing to enforce the October 16 ministry directive on behalf of their healthcare members, despite receiving their monthly union dues.
The coalition called on the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, and the Minister of Labour and Employment to intervene and suspend the November 11 NSIWC circular.
It also warned vice-chancellors and bursars of the 13 universities that had already paid the allowance against recovering the payments or making deductions from the salaries of affected healthcare workers.
CHPTEIN said its 21-day pre-action notice to SSANU and NASU would expire on Monday, November 16, after which it would brief its lawyers to institute a representative action at the National Industrial Court.
The proposed suit, it said, would seek to nullify the disputed NSIWC circular, compel the payment of outstanding CONTTA arrears to eligible CONHESS and CONMESS employees, and stop any attempt to recover allowances already paid.
The coalition warned that any attempt to deduct the payments would attract industrial resistance across university health services.
It, however, reaffirmed the commitment of its members to providing healthcare services to students and staff of federal universities, insisting that they would no longer accept what it described as a situation in which unions collected their dues but failed to defend their entitlements.
