Nigerian lecturers lowest paid globally —ASUU

Nigerian university lecturers, including professors, are the lowest paid in the world, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed.

Similarly, it was also gathered that a special assistant to speaker of the legislative arm in Nigeria earns more than double of what a highest paid professor earns per month in Nigeria.

The president of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, made the revelations in an exclusive interview with Sunday Tribune, lamenting the development.

He said since 2009, which was 15 years ago, salaries of Nigerian lecturers have remained the same apart from the additional N40,000 consequential adjustment based on the previous minimum wage.

According to him, “I don’t know of any country in Africa, be it South, North, Central and even West, where university lecturers earn as low as Nigerian counterparts.

“No lecturer in some of those African countries earns less than $2,000 (about N3.3 million) per month and those in professorship cadre earn up to $10,000 (N16.5 million) per month.

“But here in Nigeria, a professor is earning $300 (N495,000) per month which is less than half a million naira.

“Look at the wide gap and that is why you can’t see any foreign lecturers in Nigerian universities because our universities are not attractive to them. We’re the ones rushing to their countries and that is part of why our universities are ranked very low in global scale.

“So, we are the lowest paid lecturers as far as I know, in the whole world and those in government do not see this narrative as an issue that needs to be addressed.

“And the reason is simply because their children and family members are not in Nigeria. They don’t attend Nigerian public schools. That is the situation we find ourselves in.”

Osodeke further revealed that his own salary is just N420,000 (about $255) per month despite being a professor for 15 years.

He pointed out that even his seniors who have been professors for up to 20 years earn the same amount with him.

“It is only the vice chancellors for example, by virtues of their offices, who earn something higher only when they are in that office as their salaries will come back to the normal amount after leaving.

“Whereas a special assistant to the Speaker of the House, for example, earns more than N1 million ($606) per month, which is more than double of the salaries of the highest-paid professor in the country.

“After all, a senator confessed recently to be earning up to N14 million per month in this same country where government is claiming there is no money and that the N14 million was not even enough for him.

“N14 million is about three years salaries of a highest paid professor.”

Osodeke noted that lecturers in the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States (US) are well paid and also enjoyed good working conditions.

Giving instance, he said, a professor in the US for example will have personal aides and also a laboratory attached to his or her office if in sciences while in Nigeria a whole university here doesn’t have a functional laboratory much less one is attached to a lecturer.

He added, “Students still stay on the windows to take lectures and one lecturer teaches up to 2,000 students.

“You won’t see something like this in any other country than Nigeria.

“The standard ratio is one lecturer to four or five students but here in Nigeria it is one lecturer to 50 students or more. That is where we are.

“And part of the implications of all these is that today, Nigeria’s government will spend so much money to train Nigerians in foreign universities and after their programmes, many of them will not return home let alone contribute to Nigeria’s development.

“They will rather go to another country because when they are even students overseas, they get up to N1 million or more per month and how would they come to Nigeria to earn something less than N250,000.

“So, we are losing our lecturers that we trained with our money to foreign universities, yet the people in government seem not to care or bother about all that.”

Osodeke pointed out that the minimum take-home salary of a lecturer in Nigeria’s public universities is N120,000 ($73) per month while the maximum for professors is in the range of half a million.

He, however, called on individuals and groups, especially those passionate about national development, to join hands with ASUU on its patriotic struggle to bring genuine development to the nation’s public education across levels.

He said that was the only way for Nigeria to move forward appreciably.

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