The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved N470bn special fund in the 2023 budget for university revitalisation and upward review of lecturers’ salaries.
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, made this known at a briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, October 19.
She explained that the sum was specially provided in the allocation to education for upward adjustment of salaries for university lecturers and revitalization of universities.
N300 billion is for university revitalisation while N170 billion is for an upward review of university lecturers’ salaries, the Finance Minister said.
According to her, the draft 2023 budget has been prepared on the background of international challenges such as the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19 pandemic, adding that revenue generation has been a major challenge to national development in the country.
On the allocations for critical sectors, she said the sum of 2.05 trillion Naira is allocated to education and 1.58 trillion Naira for health.
She added that 2.74 trillion Naira is allocated to defense and security, infrastructure got 998.9 billion Naira while social development and poverty reduction has 756 billion Naira.
This comes following the suspension of the eight months strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The ASUU members went on strike over the upward review of lecturers’ welfare, amongst others.