The Nigerian government pays equipment allowances for eight months to university and polytechnic lecturers

The Federal Government has released the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance for academic staff at federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for the eight-month period covering January to August 2026.

This was stated by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, on Wednesday shortly after inaugurating the Ministry’s Accreditation Committee.

CATA is a stipend designed to support academic staff in purchasing essential tools and materials for teaching, research and other academic activities.

Alausa said the payment was in accordance with the terms of the 2025 agreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

He said, “The Office of the Minister of Education is pleased to announce that full CATA payments have now been disbursed by the Federal Government from January to August 2026 to all universities, all polytechnics and colleges of education.

“All of these institutions should have received notification to begin paying CATA to all academic staff.”

The Minister of Finance said that the government is also processing the payment of allowances to non-academic staff.

“And also payments to non-academic staff, we hope these funds can be disbursed, hopefully in the next few weeks,” he said.

Alausa said the disbursement of allowances demonstrated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to improving the welfare of workers in the country’s tertiary institutions.

“This is proof of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to our academic and non-academic staff. President Bola Tinubu is committed to ensuring that the quality and welfare of our workforce is prioritized. He really prioritizes the welfare of our workforce,” he said.

He said the education reforms carried out by the government were not only limited to staff welfare, but investments were also made in infrastructure in all tertiary institutions, as well as primary and postgraduate education.

“As well as prioritizing the welfare of our staff, he has also invested significantly in infrastructure across all our tertiary institutions as well as primary and postgraduate education,” the minister said.

Alausa said the government is committed to providing quality education to Nigerian children that is capable of competing with global standards.

“This is a president who believes deeply in education. He has gone above and beyond on his promise to ensure that every child in this country gets an education of the highest quality comparable to anywhere in the world,” he said.

The Minister commended Tinubu for what he described as transformative initiatives in the education sector.