Published: November 6, 2026
MONROVIA — The University of Liberia has asked the government for US$58 million for 2027, US$44 million of it to fix the salary disparities behind a labor dispute that has pulled faculty and staff away from classrooms.
Togar Gibson, the university’s acting vice president for finance and comptroller, disclosed the request to the Senate, sitting as a Committee of the Whole. University administrators and leaders of the University of Liberia Faculty and Staff Association appeared before senators to explain the institution’s financial problems and the dispute.
“What we requested from the Ministry of Finance for the entire proposal package amounts to US$58 million,” Gibson said. “That includes US$44 million for all these different disparities, returning faculty and changing academic ranks.”
The association’s secretary-general, Eric T. S. Patten, told senators that faculty and staff pay out of their own salaries for what they need to do their jobs.
“We don’t get any other incentives. The salary we receive is not enough. To go to work, we use our own resources. We buy our own data to conduct research. We are not provided with internet access. There is no internet at the university,” he said. “Everything we do comes from our own pockets. There are no extra incentives for faculty or staff provided by the University of Liberia. We pay for these things from our salaries.”
Patten said these grievances are why faculty and staff have pulled back from teaching. He said repeated appeals for better working conditions, and for the government to honor earlier salary commitments, have produced too little.
Patten said the association reached an agreement with the government in 2021 on salary adjustments and a pay structure meant to close gaps among university employees. The government implemented part of it, with full implementation expected in 2023, but the general elections that year delayed it.
“However, because of the elections, the government said it could not proceed. We understood,” Patten said. “In 2024, the government had just come to power. In 2025, Madam President, the agreement still had not been fully implemented.”
He said teaching assistants, research assistants and laboratory demonstrators earn US$850 to US$900, while instructors earn US$1,700 to US$1,800. He said assistant professors are also paid unequally, even though their agreed salary is US$3,000.
“So, our issue is that we are asking for an improvement in our basic salaries, not any other additional benefits,” Patten said.
Gibson said the finance ministry asked the university to propose its own budget ceiling for 2027 instead of setting one. He said this let the administration fold several outstanding obligations into its request. He said the proposal sets out six ways of addressing the pay problems, but he did not describe them.
Patten asked the Senate to set up a special committee to mediate between the administration and the association on salary commitments, working conditions and other grievances, so that normal academic activities can resume.
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