GoL Provides US$550K Lifeline Funding to UL -As Dr. Maparyan Expresses Appreciation during 2026 Budget Hearing

MONROVIA – The heightened uncertainty that has occasioned the reopening of the nation’s highest tertiary institution seems to be over for now, as good tidings erupt from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), that a much needed lifeline has been thrown to the University of Liberia to offset salary arrears and carry out urgent renovation works at the University’s main Capitol Hill Campus.

According to Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan during the ongoing 2026 fiscal budget hearing, the amount of the US$550,000 was last week given to the University of Liberia to address pressing demands.

“Last week we had to scrape here and there to give the University an additional US$550,000 above their budget. The pressure has been created by some folks in society that the Ministry of Finance had not been given the University its budgeted appropriation. We do not want to be constrained to clarify things. Unfortunately, we have been sad victims of twisted information, and to some extent, we forgive everybody who has been in the business of distorting the facts,” Minister Ngafuan said at the start of the University of Liberia budget hearing on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

The nation’s fiscal policy gatekeeper was however quick to inform that the University of Liberia remains the only spending entity that received almost 100% of its budgeted appropriation apart from a measly $16,000 that was not received.

“Out of US33.7 million, only $16,000 was not received. In the budgeting process, that is quite a feat. I don’t know which spending entity even reached 90%. But the impression was created that the Ministry of Finance was not giving the University its budgeted appropriation. This year again, that impression has been made to thrive, and it has not been debunked, thereby constraining us to be the ones to be debunking it, and to some extent that is unfair to us,” he said.

Stringent Measures Afoot

To keep the University afloat, Minister Ngafuan further indicated that the Ministry of Finance has undertaken key accountability measures for fiscal probity, among which is a rigid reverification process for the month of September.

“We’ve written for the reverification of the University payroll for the month of September. When we met, we agreed on that measure, and we intend to enforce it. There will be no turning back. For the month of September, everyone on the University payroll who is being paid by the government will have to be reverified.  We are not going to reverify you. You have your heads of departments, deans of colleges, vice presidents and president. For each department we want departmental listing. We want the chair, deans, vice president and president to sign off on the listing and send it to the Comptroller.

“We’ve been in conversation with the chairman of the Board, Senator Batekwa. We are discussing the issue of the University of Liberia with other board members. We know others are very interested in the University; some of them are private people, and we like their initiative, including Sis Laurene Browne and others. We support what they are doing. The ultimate goal is to support and stabilize the University, and to support accountability at the University so that the students of the University can learn and distractions can be reduced,” Ngafuan stated emphatically.

The complexities of budget hearing

Providing a backdrop in the intricacies that attend budget hearings and the role of the Ministry of Finance to judiciously appropriate fundings to spending entities in line with the revenue stream, Minister Ngafuan said the duty of the budget team at the Ministry of Finance to hear, take note and try to do more.

“We are by law required to submit the national budget for the next fiscal year by the 31^st of October. We intend to meet the requirements of the law, and so this is part of the process. We hear from spending entities and receiving entities. Before you came, we had a very production conversation with the team from the Ministry of Education led by the acting Minister of Education Hon. Nyekeh Forkpa, representing the Minister of Education. This is the national budget committee. I see representatives of CSA, GSA, Ministry of State, and also the PPCC, LRA.

“We recognize the role of the Commissioner General of the LRA and his team, and all others that are assisting us with our revenue generation. At the end of the day, we must bake the cake before we divide it. Revenue generators in government are the ones that bake the cake. Others are mainly service laborers, and they come for us to give them piece of the pie. But the cake must be baked. The bigger the cake, the more someone can hope for. The smaller the cake, the smaller the pie.

“With the University we wish to inform you that we are dealing with a complex situation, and scarcity is a constant that we deal within the budget process, vis-à-vis what entities want. Just before you came, we listened to the proposal from the Ministry of Education, and what they want to do if we are to fund them and their ambition to the limit of their request, we have practically nothing left for any other government entity. But it’s not a crime for everyone to request as much as they wish because it means that you have ambition. We in the budget unfortunately we listen we listen to all the ambitions. As soon as you leave, someone else will come, and they are all making claims on the national coffers. So, that’s why we talked about prioritizing among our priorities. We intend, based on the size of the envelope, to do more, but we don’t know how far it will go. We can only give what we collect.

“For the University, we want to say that we are connected with the University like any other spending entity and the Ministry of Finance. We are connected also because we are on the Board. And so, we are going to step up with the University. We are not only stepping up in terms of funds, which we are doing, but to step up to ensure that some of the fiduciary concerns that are being noted are addressed,” Minister Nfaguan said.

A thankful Dr. Layli Maparyan

Responding, University of Liberia President Dr. Layli Maparyan effusively thanked Minister Ngafuan and the budget team for the infusion of US$550K towards the reopening of the University of Liberia.

“Thank you very those salient remarks because they really set the stage for the conversation. For the record, we want to thank you for the recent income of $550,000 that you have channeled to the University of Liberia. And I also want to state for the record that since my arrival in January, the relationship between the University of Liberia and the Ministry of Finance has been strong and supportive. And I want to thank you as the new president for guiding me through the complexities of the budget and the related things to support the University of Liberia.

“I think of your comment about scarcity and all of the burdens you took. Those burdens that you took all have their seeds at the University of Liberia. Everyone of the burden that you took has a department at the University of Liberia where people are being trained to lead and to contribute to national development, to gain expertise, skills and knowledge to lift the country.

“The more we lift up the University, that more we lift up the country. I know for a fact that everyone in Liberia values the University of Liberia and understands its role. Everyone wants to see it thrive, prosper and do its job well. At the same time, when we look at the global stage and the higher education sector worldwide, we know no University has survived on single revenue stream. So, we have extreme gratitude for the funding provided to us by the Government of Liberia, and its generosity in supporting the bulk of our activities, but in terms of my own administration, I understand the importance of diversifying revenues streams for the University of Liberia. And many of the plans that we’re going to talk about today will set the stage for making the University of Liberia very attractive to donors and to investment. We know that if we want to make the nation’s flagship university be all it can be, we have to develop the faculty, the students, the infrastructure and its relationship with the general public. As the new President, one of my mandates has been to develop the next strategic plan for the University of Liberia. My presentation today will be alluding many of the objectives of that strategic plan which will lay the foundation for the spending that we will be doing at the University of Liberia,” Dr. Mapayan said, as the budget hearing commenced and the media exited the budget room.