Hon. Michael Makuei Lueth, the minister of Information, during an Interview with Eye Radio in his Office in Juba on Wednesday January 18, 2023 - Credit: Moses Awan/Eye Radio

The cabinet has approved a budget of more than 60 billion South Sudanese pounds to fund the adjustment of salary structure for public Universities’ lecturers.

The salary budget was approved after a presentation from the Minister of Higher Education on Friday.

Speaking to the media on the weekend, the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei Lueth says the Minister of Finance has been instructed to implement the budget.

“Based on the advice of the Minister of Higher Education, the cabinet approved the increment in the salary of the teaching staff at the universities and their support staff. That was to the sum of 61,352,096,054 South Sudanese pounds,” Makuei told the media.

“This was the amount approved for these staff, so the minister of finance was instructed to put that in action and if possible, then they will see how best they will be paying these people.”

The budget for the new salary structure was announced after a series of strikes staged by the University of Bahr el Ghazal, University of Upper Nile, and Rumbek University of Science and Technology last year.

The academic staff from the three public universities laid down their tools after the government’s slow implementation of the salary adjustment to meet the current exchange rate in the market.