By Amos Harris
Monrovia, Liberia — The University of Liberia (UL) has started paying long-awaited salary arrears to its adjunct faculty members. This follows the recent disbursement of funds from the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MoFDP).
UL Comptroller, Mr. Togar Gibson, confirmed that the payment process began with faculty who have Ecobank accounts and is now being expanded to include other banks. He assured that all arrears for adjunct faculty and overload courses from the first semester of the 2024/2025 academic year will be settled by next week.
According to Gibson, the MoFDP released LD50.7 million specifically to cover these years. He noted that this payment represents the second half of the planned settlement, with the first 50 percent disbursed in August 2025. Gibson also revealed that the UL Administration is in talks with the MoFDP to secure an additional LD71 million to address outstanding obligations from the recent vacation school and to complete all payments owed to faculty.
“We are thankful to the Government of Liberia, through the MoFDP, for the additional funding and its unwavering support to keep the university operational,” Gibson stated. “Faculty and staff remain a top priority of the UL Administration, and we are determined to provide the fiscal space for them to be effective and efficient.”
Gibson clarified that the delay in payments for the first semester was due to a budgetary adjustment that redirected US$1 million to settle arrears from the 2023/2024 academic year.
In a related development, Madam Wilhelmina Garr Stevens, President of the Adjunct Faculty Association of the University of Liberia (AFA-UL), confirmed that members have begun receiving their payments. “I can confirm that I have been paid, just like most of my colleagues,” Stevens said, adding that notifications in the association’s chatroom show members from various banks receiving credits.
Several adjunct faculty members expressed their gratitude to the administration in telephone interviews, commending them for addressing their concerns. They also welcomed assurances that payments for vacation school courses will be settled once the remaining US$550,000 is released.
