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?”

A fire outbreak has gutted parts of the popular Oranyan Market in Ibadan, Oyo State, destroying goods, shops and other properties belonging to traders.

The fire reportedly started at about 10:30pm on Sunday, August 23, 2026, according to reports from residents and traders in the area.

Videos and photographs circulating on social media showed thick smoke and flames engulfing sections of the market as firefighters and other first responders moved in to contain the blaze.

The extent of the damage was not immediately known, but videos from the scene showed several structures and goods destroyed by the fire.

One social media user, Prime, described the incident as devastating, posting a video of the burning market with the caption, “Omoh! This is terrible.”

The incident reportedly prompted residents and traders to alert emergency responders as the fire spread through parts of the market.

By Monday morning, images shared online showed gutted sections of the market, damaged structures and traders’ goods destroyed by the blaze.

The cause of the fire had not been established as of the time of filing this report.

There were also no officially confirmed figures on the number of shops affected, the value of goods destroyed or possible casualties as at the time of filing this report.

The incident has renewed concerns over the vulnerability of major markets in Ibadan and other parts of Nigeria to fire outbreaks, particularly because of the concentration of shops and combustible goods in such commercial centres.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has cautioned against calls to restore the petrol subsidy.

He said a return to the old regime would undermine Nigeria’s improving fiscal position, weaken investor confidence, and reverse gains from the economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

According to a statement issued by his Media Aide, Rabiu Ibrahim, in Abuja on Monday, the minister stated this in an Op-Ed published on Monday in some national dailies, titled “Restoring Fuel Subsidy Will Reverse Nigeria’s Economic Gains.”

He outlined the fiscal benefits of subsidy removal, the economic risks averted, and the difficult trade-offs that would confront the country should petrol subsidy be reintroduced.

“Restoring subsidy would almost instantly return Nigeria to the economic conditions of 2022, recreating the same fiscal pressures, distortions, scarcity and incentives for arbitrage that made the old system unsustainable,” Idris said.

Idris said proponents of subsidy restoration must confront its real opportunity costs.

“Do we restore petrol subsidy, or sustain student loans and consumer credit for young Nigerians? Do we restore subsidy, or preserve higher allocations to states and local governments? Do we restore subsidy, or continue funding roads, rail, power and security?

“Do we restore subsidy, or strengthen the fiscal capacity required to expand healthcare, education and social protection for vulnerable Nigerians?” he asked.

The minister recalled that in 2022, amid declining oil production and weak revenues, Nigeria spent about $10 billion on fuel subsidies, while the World Bank warned that the subsidy was consuming resources that could otherwise have supported education, healthcare, infrastructure and social protection.

Citing the Federal Government’s recently presented “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented,” Idris said the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that subsidy savings mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.

He explained that approximately ₦5.43 trillion accrued to the Federal Government, N6.52 trillion to states and N3.88 trillion to local governments, clarifying that the N15.8 trillion was not a separate pool of cash but resources released within the Federation’s wider fiscal system.

According to Idris, the increased fiscal space has strengthened the capacity of states and local governments to meet salary and pension obligations and invest in essential services, while supporting major federal investments in infrastructure, security, agriculture and human capital.

He said, “The Reform Scorecard recorded approximately N6.47 trillion in additional expenditure on strategic infrastructure, alongside more than N400 billion committed to major social investment initiatives, including NELFUND, MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund, MREIF and CREDICORP.

“In contrast, social transfers have reached more than 10 million Nigerian households.”

Idris added that Nigeria was already carrying an electricity subsidy estimated at N3.14 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025, warning that reintroducing petrol subsidy would impose an additional burden on public finances.

He noted that the Organised Private Sector and the wider economic community had also cautioned against reversing the reform.

“Nigeria cannot build tomorrow’s economy by returning to yesterday’s unsustainable subsidy regime. We have moved beyond that model,” he said.

He urged Nigerians to view the reforms in the context of the country’s long-term economic stability and the need to build a stronger and more productive economy.