FG approves N486,000 hazard pay boost for university workers

…directs that payment should be backdated to January

The federal government has moved to defuse simmering tension in federal universities, approving a fresh remuneration package for non-teaching staff that raises annual hazard allowances by as much as N126,000 and takes effect retroactively from January 1, 2026.

The revised package, contained in a circular from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) dated July 20, 2026, formalises an agreement the government struck with the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) on June 29, 2026, closing out months of negotiations that had kept industrial peace on campuses on edge.

The circular, signed by Adighiogu Chiadi, the commission’s acting secretary, was routed to the chief of staff to the president, the secretary to the government of the federation, the head of the civil service and permanent secretaries across ministries, agencies and universities, signalling the scale of the payroll adjustment now working its way through the system.

At the centre of the package is a review of the laboratory, workshop, studio, clinical and occupational hazard allowance, last adjusted under a 2009 agreement.

It stated that the federal government had approved the payment of the consolidated non-teaching tools allowance and reviewed earned allowances for eligible non-teaching staff in federal universities.

The circular read, “Following the agreement between the federal government of Nigeria and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions dated June 29, 2026, the federal government has approved the payment of the following allowances to non-teaching staff members of NASU in federal universities.”

Among the most significant adjustments is the review of the laboratory, workshop, studio, clinical and occupational hazard allowance.

For employees on CONTISS 1-5, the annual hazard allowance was increased from N180,000 under the 2009 agreement to N243,000, representing an increase of N63,000.

For workers on CONTISS 6-15, the allowance rose from N360,000 annually to N486,000 annually, an increase of N126,000, although lower than the union’s demand of N720,000 annually.

The circular also retained call duty, shift duty and clinical hazard allowances in accordance with existing National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission circulars.

For high-risk allowance, the commission stated that payments would continue to be implemented through the Employee Compensation framework in line with the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010 and the NSIWC Circular Ref. No. CM/15/IV/13 dated September 22, 2023, instead of a fixed annual payment.

The commission also raised allowances tied to field trips, teaching practice, industrial supervision and the Students Work Experience Programme, generally lifting them by roughly a third across CONTISS bands 1–15, though still well under NASU’s proposed figures.

For the first time, workers in laboratories, workshops and studios will also receive a uniform and protective wear allowance, pegged uniformly at N80,000 a year across all three affected salary bands, against union requests ranging from N240,000 to N360,000.

Not every line item survived. The provision tools allowance has been absorbed into a new consolidated non-teaching tools allowance; project supervision allowance was scrapped because it duplicates existing staff duties; and Laboratory Students/Staff Ratio Supplementation will now be handled under Excess Workload arrangements.

The excess workload allowance itself, currently N3,500 per hour, capped at 52 hours a year for CONTISS 09–15 officers, was retained at the existing rate rather than raised to the N10,000 NASU sought, with the commission directing that it be phased out entirely over time.

NASU had long argued that its earned allowances, most benchmarked to a 2009 agreement, had been eroded by inflation and naira depreciation, leaving non-teaching staff, who keep university administration, laboratories and student services running, increasingly underpaid relative to the cost of living.

The review lands as the federal government works to keep a lid on labour unrest across the tertiary education sector following the rollout of the new national minimum wage, with talks ongoing with other campus-based unions, including the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, which, along with NASU, has repeatedly downed tools in recent years over unpaid earned allowances and unimplemented agreements.