Healthcare professionals in federal universities have given the national leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) 14 days to address their alleged exclusion from the payment of the Consolidated Non-Teaching Tools Allowance (CONTTA) arrears or face legal action. The affected workers, operating under the Coalition of Healthcare Professionals in Tertiary Education Institutions in Nigeria (CHPTEIN), claim they were served a 21-day statutory pre-action notice on the unions on October 26, 2026.
The workers alleged that thousands of clinical, nursing, laboratory, pharmaceutical and allied healthcare professionals across federal universities had been excluded from the CONTTA payments despite being financial members of SSANU and NASU. They attributed the exclusion to the position of some university administrations and bursary departments that healthcare professionals operating under the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) were not covered by the allowance.
However, CHPTEIN cited a Federal Ministry of Education circular dated October 16, 2026, which clarified that the allowance covered all non-teaching staff, irrespective of their union affiliations. The circular, signed by the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, stated that the Budget Office of the Federation calculated the financial implications of CONTTA based on the entire workforce of non-teaching staff on the payroll.
The coalition claimed that at least 13 universities, including the University of Ibadan, the University of Port Harcourt and the University of Abuja, had mapped CONHESS and CONMESS salary grades to their CONTISS equivalents and paid their healthcare workers. This development, according to CHPTEIN, was evidence that the payment could be implemented without compelling healthcare professionals to abandon their existing salary structures.
The workers also accused some university bursars of pressuring healthcare professionals to migrate from CONHESS and CONMESS to CONTISS as a condition for receiving their allowances. They maintained that university bursary departments had no statutory authority to alter federally approved salary classifications.
CHPTEIN faulted the national leadership of SSANU and NASU for allegedly failing to protect healthcare professionals whose check-off dues contributed to the unions’ collective bargaining activities. The coalition condemned the institutional silence of national SSANU and NASU executives, who used the collective bargaining strength and check-off dues of health workers to negotiate the allowance, only to abandon them during disbursement.
The coalition demanded that the unions publish a joint disclaimer affirming that university healthcare professionals were entitled to CONTTA payments, irrespective of their salary structures. They also urged the unions to issue a binding memorandum to the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and the Association of University Bursars, directing them to stop pressuring health workers to migrate to CONTISS as a condition for payment.
Key points
- Healthcare professionals in federal universities have given SSANU and NASU 14 days to address their alleged exclusion from CONTTA arrears payment.
- The workers claim they were excluded from CONTTA payments despite being financial members of SSANU and NASU.
- CHPTEIN cited a Federal Ministry of Education circular clarifying that CONTTA covered all non-teaching staff, irrespective of their union affiliations.
