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SALARY CONTROVERSY: Taraba varsity staff not highest paid in Nigeria — TSU ASUU




THE Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Taraba State University, TSU Chapter, has refuted claims circulating on social media that academic staff of the institution are the highest-paid university workers in Nigeria, describing the narrative as misleading propaganda designed to manipulate public opinion.

The union’s clarification followed claims made by Mr. Rekwense Muri, a promoter of Governor Agbu Kefas and APC chieftain in Taraba State, during an interview with the Spill It Podcast that went viral on social media. Muri claimed that TSU lecturers earn higher salaries than their counterparts across the federation.

In a strongly worded rebuttal issued in Jalingo, the ASUU-TSU Branch Chairman, Dr. Joshua Garba Mbave, stated that verifiable statutory salary records across federal and state universities clearly disprove the assertion.

Mbave noted that the state government’s own fact-finding team which submitted its report on the implementation of Consolidated Academic/Teaching Allowance (CATA) and Consolidated Non-Teaching Allowance (CONTTA) on September 24, 2026 confirmed that sister universities in the North-East, including Gombe State University, Sa’adu Zungur University (Bauchi), Yobe State University (Damaturu), and Adamawa State University (Mubi), had fully implemented the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement and earn significantly higher than TSU staff.

Citing comparative salary figures from across the country, Mbave revealed that while a Graduate Assistant at TSU on CONUASS 01, Step 1 earns N237,331.33, their counterpart at Rivers State University receives N559,577.49, and at Delta State University, Abraka, N503,574.00.

Similarly, a Professor at TSU on CONUASS 07, Step 10 earns N1,002,801.94, compared to N3,355,231.10 at Rivers State University and N1,667,280.00 at Delta State University, while a Professor on CONUASS 07, Step 7 at TSU earns N984,806.69 against N1,252,419.90 at Benue State University.

Continuing he said “by contrast, the 30% National Minimum Wage and the 25%/35% wage award for Nigerian universities were never implemented at Taraba State University, and no arrears were paid.

“The 70% National Minimum Wage, which was built on those two earlier adjustments, was later implemented. Staff of the University sacrificed the arrears accrued from all salary adjustments in the interest of industrial harmony.

“Other states in the North, including Bauchi State, were the first to implement the 30% National Minimum Wage, the 25%/35% wage award for Nigerian universities, and the 70% National Minimum Wage, as well as CATA. They did so without waiting for any other state to act, and without constituting committees or fact-finding mission to verify implementation.”

Mbave urged the media and general public to disregard the false assertions and urged the Governor Agbu Kefas administration to fully implement the 2025 FGN-ASUU Agreement and settle all outstanding salary arrears dating back to January 2026.

VANGUARD 

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