The implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase approved for university lecturers by President Bola Tinubu is facing fresh uncertainty as the Federal Government has allegedly failed to release funds to federal universities to sustain the payment, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said.

Prof. Florence Onyebuchi Orabueze, Chairperson of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) chapter of ASUU, said the university had been paying the approved increment despite the Federal Government’s failure to provide the necessary funds

Orabueze said the university’s internally generated revenue (IGR) could not continue to shoulder the financial burden of the salary increase, warning that ASUU could embark on another nationwide strike if the government fails to address the funding problem.

She said the Federal Government had reimbursed UNN for only part of the money it spent on the salary adjustment.

“The Vice Chancellor is not owing us anything; it is just that the Federal Government is not giving them the money for the payment. The problem is that the government is not releasing the money,” Orabueze said.

According to her, the UNN management initially used its IGR to fund the payment from January to June, but the Federal Government only reimbursed the institution for the period between January and May.

“When he paid from January to June, then they reimbursed him from January to May. But that of June, the Federal Government hasn’t paid. They haven’t also paid for July,” she said.

Orabueze said the funding challenge was not peculiar to UNN, insisting that it was a nationwide problem affecting the implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase agreed under the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU renegotiated agreement.

“The problem of the payment of 40 per cent salary increment for the 2025 FGN/ASUU renegotiated agreement is a nationwide issue, and not that of UNN,” she said.

The UNN ASUU chairperson said the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), which recently met in Abuja, was concerned about what members considered the government’s failure to fully implement the agreement.

She said the union was considering industrial action between the end of August and early September if the funding issue was not resolved.

“Part of the decision was that because the Federal Government is not serious about implementing the whole thing, that by the end of this month… between the end of this month and September, early September, ASUU, at the national level, will go on strike,” she said.

She stressed that UNN had been able to pay the increment only because its management had committed its own resources to the process.

“UNN has paid from January to June. Federal Government owes them. But that of July, like all others, they haven’t been able to pay, and that is because there is no way the IGR can carry it,” she said.

According to Orabueze, discussions at the ASUU NEC meeting involving representatives from almost 100 universities showed that the funding crisis was widespread.

“When we went to Abuja for NEC, more than almost 100 universities, we found out that no federal university has paid that of July,” she said.

She also said several state universities were already involved in industrial disputes over salary and other issues.

Orabueze expressed frustration over what she described as the government’s treatment of university lecturers, comparing their approved salary increase with the reported 300 per cent increase for judicial officers.

“The Federal Government is not serious with us. They gave judges 300 per cent, but the lecturers who are even training everybody, including judges, even to pay us 40 per cent is becoming very hard for them,” she said.

She said lecturers had accepted the 40 per cent increase despite reservations because they wanted to avoid prolonged disruption of academic activities.

“We took 40 per cent, and even to pay that 40 per cent is hard, they are withholding our money,” she said.

Orabueze said lecturers had previously called off industrial action partly because of the impact prolonged strikes would have on students from poor families.

“We called off the strike in October last year because they said that it’s only poor Nigerians that are studying here. So we called off the strike because of poor Nigerians like us,” she said.

She added: “Why is it impossible that they don’t want to even pay those of us who agreed to stay in Nigeria to teach our children? Why is it that they are finding it difficult to pay us 40 per cent?”

Suspected bandits have reportedly abducted the traditional ruler of Igbesi community in Isin Local Government Area of Kwara State, alongside several residents, during an attack on the community.

The attackers also reportedly kidnapped the first wife of the Baale of Dabu community in Ifelodun Local Government Area, popularly known as Iya Ayoka.

The separate incidents, which occurred in communities across Kwara South, have raised fresh security concerns among residents in the area.

Report says the traditional ruler was reportedly abducted when suspected bandits attacked Igbesi at about 11pm on Saturday.

Sources said the attackers took the monarch and several other residents to an undisclosed location. As of Sunday, no ransom demand had reportedly been made for their release.

The abduction of the monarch was confirmed by the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, CP Ojo Adekimi, on Sunday night that security agencies had commenced efforts to locate and rescue him.

Adekimi said, “The police were collaborating with other security agencies and relevant stakeholders to secure the safe release of the traditional ruler”.

He explained that the circumstances surrounding the incident were still being established, adding that the late hour of the attack made it difficult to immediately determine the number of attackers involved.

The CP said, “Security operatives were already in the bush as part of efforts to track the perpetrators”, adding that his men had recovered some rustled cattle during the operation.

He, however, clarified that the recovered cattle were not connected with the abduction of the monarch.

In a separate incident, the first wife of the Baale of Dabu community in Ifelodun Local Government Area, popularly known as Iya Ayoka, was also reportedly abducted by suspected bandits.

The chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Alhaji Femi Yusuf, confirmed the incident to Newsmen, saying security operatives were already on the trail of the abductors and working to rescue the woman.

He, however, described the incident as an isolated occurrence, stressing that the security situation in the council had improved considerably in recent times.

The football with which Diego Maradona scored his famous ‘hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup has sold at auction for £2.5m

The ‘Hand of God’ football was previously sold in 2022

Maradona famously punched the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton in Argentina’s 2-1 quarter-final win over England.

After the game, he told reporters it had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.

Maradona later scored what became known as the ‘goal of the century’ in the same game, dribbling past five England outfield players before slotting the ball past Shilton.

Though it sold for $3.3m (£2.5m) at Heritage Auctions in the United States on Saturday, the ball had been expected to fetch nearer $10m (£7.3m).

Speaking to Reuters before the auction, Mike Provenzale, a specialist auctioneer at Heritage, said: “It’s a true one-of-one item. Arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”

Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, who refereed the match in 1986, collected the Adidas Azteca ball at full-time and kept it for more than three decades.

In 2023, he signed a letter to confirm it was the only ball used during the match, which has also been confirmed by further independent authentication.

Bin Nasser sold the ball in 2022 for $2.37m (£1.74m). Its new owner again put it up for auction in 2023 though it did not sell as bids did not meet the minimum value set.

The shirt worn by Maradona during the same match sold for £7.1m at auction in 2022.