Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has called for urgent action to complete the validation of records belonging to teachers taking part in the ongoing strike, as the government prepares to make outstanding payments.
Mr Iddrisu visited a data processing centre where officials are checking the records. The exercise is part of measures announced to address concerns raised by the pre-tertiary teacher unions and allow payments to be made to eligible teachers.
The minister said the government expects the records of at least 51,000 teachers to be validated by the end of Monday, 5 October 2026. Once the process is complete, the information will be used to arrange supplementary payments.
He added that the Ministry of Finance would be instructed to prepare the first tranche of the money owed after the validated data had been submitted. That initial payment is expected to be processed by 16 October.
Mr Iddrisu urged the officials responsible for the exercise to combine speed with accuracy, saying the validation process was essential to ensuring that teachers received the amounts due to them.
He said the government’s commitment could best be demonstrated by validating 52,000 of the 80,000 records. He also stressed that the Controller and Accountant-General needed to act quickly.
Promotion arrears and new grades
The minister also repeated the government’s pledge to place promoted teachers on their new grades by 30 October 2026.
He said it would be inexcusable if the government failed both to pay salary arrears linked to promotions and to move teachers to their new grades by that deadline.
Mr Iddrisu appealed to the striking teachers to consider ending their industrial action. He acknowledged that their demands for a collective agreement and improved conditions of service remained important matters that the government needed to resolve.
“I renew the call that we treat each other in good faith,” he said, while urging the government and teacher unions to maintain mutual respect as negotiations continue.