Following the claim of 12 months of unpaid salaries by a group of Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU) lecturers, the management of the university has clarified that the lecturers were given temporary appointments by the previous state administration in 2023 and had been disengaged over a year ago due to irregularities in their appointments.
The university announced this in a statement by the Registrar, Dr. Acho Elendu, which was marked “ABSU Staff Enjoying Regular Payment Of Salaries Under His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti,” and dated 16 July 2025.
The Registrar, however, stated that the university management had promised that as many of the lecturers who applied and qualified for employment would be considered alongside others in the ongoing recruitment exercise in the university, as graciously approved by the state government, and appealed for caution to ensure that justice is done.
The Registrar was reacting to a newspaper report of 16 July 2025 titled “Abia varsity lecturers lament 12 months unpaid salaries,” which stated, among others, that “About 200 lecturers engaged by the Abia State University Uturu in 2023 have expressed sadness over the institution’s inability to pay their 12-month-old salary arrears owed them.”
The newspaper report also stated that the spokesperson of the lecturers it named as Chukwemeka Thompson, had, while speaking with it (newspaper) on Saturday, appealed to the state governor, Alex Otti, to intervene to settle their indebtedness without delay.
The report further stated that Thompson also called on the governor to regularise their appointment in the university payroll system, lamenting that all efforts to get to the state governor have been impossible and that the university’s management has not been helping matters either.
Thompson said, “We were employed in 2023 as staff of Abia State University. We have been receiving salaries, but around June last year, our salary stopped coming. So, we went to the Bursary unit to ask what actually happened, and they told us that we should go to the Accountant General’s office.”
According to the said newspaper report, Thompson also said, “When they met the university’s management, they were informed that they are no longer the people in charge of paying salaries, after they had completed verification, and have been teaching, grading, and graduating students.
“We were told that they were under instruction by the government not to pay them at the Accountant General Office and that the government gave instruction that they should stop the salary.
“We have not been issued any disengagement letter. We have not officially seen anything. But we have our employment letters duly signed and given to us individually. We keep pleading for them to please try and reach out to the governor, that we are really suffering.”
The Registrar described the said newspaper publication as mischievous, malicious, and misleading, asserting that the lecturers’ allegation/claim is untrue and a calculated attempt to blackmail the university management and the state government.
He stated, “It is on record that since assumption of office as the 5th democratically elected Executive Governor of Abia State and Visitor to Abia State University, on 29th May 2023, His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti has ensured prompt and regular payment of salaries of verified staff of the university.”
According to the Registrar, “His Excellency, in his characteristic magnanimity and uncommon passion for education, also approved payment of 11 months’ arrears of salaries owed by the previous administration. Ten (10) months of the arrears have so far been paid.
“The agitators (lecturers), who were given temporary appointments by the previous administration in 2023, were disengaged over a year ago due to irregularities in their appointments.
“Management had promised that as many of them that applied and qualified would be considered alongside others in the ongoing recruitment exercise in the university, as graciously approved by the state government. Hence, management appeals for caution to ensure justice is done.”
