FG pays 50% of outstanding 2025 BEA scholarship allowances
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos Zone, has raised concerns over the delayed implementation of the salary component of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement across Nigerian universities.
 
The union, while addressing journalists yesterday at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), accused the Federal Government and some state governments of failing to fully implement the agreement reached with university lecturers.
 
The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Lagos Zone, Adesola Nassir, while speaking at the briefing, said the union accepted the 2025 agreement as a step towards addressing the challenges facing Nigerian universities after years of negotiations.
 
According to him, the agreement was expected to improve lecturers’ welfare and support the revitalisation of the university system, but recent developments have raised doubts about the government’s commitment to fulfilling its promises.
 
The ASUU said that allowances captured under the Consolidated Academic Tool Allowances (CATA), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and Professorial Allowances (PA) were expected to have been integrated into the lecturers’ monthly salaries from January 2026.
 
However, the union alleged that the implementation had been inconsistent in federal universities due to inadequate funding provided to university administrations.
 
The union noted that while the Federal Government encouraged universities to begin implementation pending the signing of the 2026 budget, many institutions lacked the financial capacity to sustain the payments, resulting in what ASUU described as “haphazard implementation.”

In another development, the Federal Government has said that it has commenced the disbursement of outstanding allowances to Nigerian students studying abroad under the now-defunct Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship scheme. 
 
Specifically, it confirmed that 50 per cent of the approved 2025 payments had already been released. 
 
A statement, yesterday, by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had transferred the funds to Nigerian embassies and missions for immediate payment to eligible scholars in partner countries. 

The ASUU also expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of some state governments toward the agreement, warning that failure to implement it in state-owned universities could disrupt industrial peace.
 
It, however, commended the Governing Council of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) for approving full implementation of the agreement from January 2026, beginning from May 2026.
  It also praised Tai Solarin University of Education and other state-owned institutions that have begun implementation processes.
 
The ASUU, while calling on the Lagos State Government to urgently begin implementation in its universities, urged the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to intervene and prevent possible disputes in the institutions.
 
It criticised the Federal Government for failing to inaugurate the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC), and further added that it is necessary to ensure proper execution of the agreement.