The government has paid promotion salary arrears owed to 52,000 teachers, while payments to another 28,000 remain outstanding, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed.

The Minister said the beneficiaries had completed the required validation process, out of approximately 80,000 teachers and other personnel who had been awaiting payment of their promotion arrears.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, October 27, Mr Iddrisu appealed to the affected teachers to refrain from embarking on another strike, assuring them that the government was working to resolve the outstanding payments.

“The 52,000 promotion arrears on the new grade were honoured by the government and paid by the government by October 16. What is outstanding is around 28,000, which includes some non-teachers; they may not be able to get payment because the validation process has not been completed,” he said.

Mr Iddrisu said he had reached out to the leadership of the teacher unions for an emergency meeting to discuss the outstanding arrears.

“I am compelled to invite the teacher unions to an emergency meeting this morning. I have reached out to them,” he stated.

He said the government was working towards ensuring that the remaining eligible beneficiaries received their arrears by the end of November.

The Minister, however, acknowledged that some of the affected personnel might not receive their payments in October, explaining that the government could consider a supplementary allocation to facilitate the process or defer the payments to November.

“Not all of them may get their October salary; we may have to do another supplementary payment or push it to November,” he said.

The disclosure comes after teachers suspended industrial action over delays in the payment of their promotion salary arrears, with the outstanding payments remaining a key concern for the affected personnel.