UNIBEN Lecturers Receive Half Salary as Fresh Crisis Hits Workers

(UNIBEN. Photo by Leadership News) 

Teachers at the University of Benin have only received half their August pay, while other staff got their full salaries.

The situation is causing stress among lecturers who were not expecting the shortfall.

The partial payment came without the usual allowances, which has hit many lecturers hard some who borrowed money through the university are now struggling to cover their loans.

With the school year starting again soon, many are facing money worries.

The federal government recently sent cash to cover five months of back pay owed to teachers under an agreement with their union.

But the plan to distribute this money was handed to individual universities without giving them enough funds to do so.

The university branch of the lecturers' union has told members not to panic, saying they've spoken to management about it.

The union leadership said the university promised more payments would come through soon.

The head of the union branch said they believe the Vice-Chancellor's word that the rest of the August salary will be paid.

He also noted that the university did pay professorial allowances to eligible staff just three days after the salary payment.

Behind the scenes, sources say the university used money it generates itself to try to cover August pay because the federal government didn't send its regular funding to the institution.

The university management hasn't officially explained why the federal money didn't come through or why only half the salaries were paid.