By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
NIGERIA UNIVERSITY Professors have demanded that their salaries be raised to a minimum of N2.5 million monthly, insisting that current pay is no longer sustainable.
On Tuesday, protests broke out across several campuses as members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) accused the Federal Government of refusing to implement the renegotiated 2009 FGN–ASUU agreement.
The lecturers reiterated that years of poor remuneration and deteriorating conditions in universities have left the academic system in crisis.
Documents obtained by PUNCH under the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure show that Graduate Assistants currently earn between N125,000 and N138,020 monthly, while professors are paid between N525,010 and N633,333.
Assistant Lecturers earn N150,000–N171,487; Lecturer II, N186,543–N209,693; Lecturer I, N239,292–N281,956; Senior Lecturers, N386,101–N480,780; and Readers, N436,392–N522,212.
With most professors taking home about N500,000 monthly, many have been forced to live in cramped quarters, while others compete with undergraduates for space in buses.
Lecturers argued that such conditions undermine productivity and worsen the rate of brain drain across institutions.
At the University of Ibadan, Professor Remi Aiyede described Nigerian professors as grossly underpaid compared to colleagues across Africa. He said a government-commissioned report had already recommended a salary structure reflecting international benchmarks.
“If you want to benchmark it across countries, you will see that the monthly pay of an average professor across Africa is between $2,000 and $4,000,” Aiyede stated. “So, if you break that down to naira, then you will have an idea of what we are talking about.
“In fact, a million naira is conservative. Professors in Nigeria should not earn less than N2.5m monthly. After the Nimi-Briggs Commission, there was a committee set up by this government, which looked into the matter.
The report was submitted to the President, and if I understand what was written in that document, a professor should be earning about N2.5m.”
At the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Abigail Ndizika-Ogwezzy of the Department of Mass Communication stressed that lecturers require decent salaries to perform effectively.
She noted that the cost of living in Lagos has made current earnings impractical.
“Anything less than N2.5m for a professor at the bar is not it; look at the reality. If I want to get a house to live in this Akoka area, it’s not less than N3m per year. Then won’t I feed, pay my children’s fees, ride a good car and even take care of my health? Then when is my reward?” she asked.
She added that lecturers are overburdened with multiple responsibilities, including teaching, research, community service, publishing, and attending conferences, yet many struggle to meet basic needs. “We are carrying the burden of three, four, five people.
It is impacting our health, our eyes. We have to read scripts, prepare notes, do community service, conduct research, publish, and attend conferences. Meanwhile, we are all buying from the same market as private sector workers, yet many lecturers cannot pay their children’s school fees,” she said.
Professor Sheriffdeen Tela of Babcock University, Ogun State, also backed the N2.5m demand, highlighting the disparity between professors and political office holders.
“If you are saying that a professor receives not less than N1.2m in a month, that means that in a year it’s still less than what the legislature takes home in a month. Some people were advocating N2.5m monthly, and yes, even with the kind of economy that we are in now, it makes sense.
“Many professors live on loans because their salaries are not enough. Instead of giving them appropriate pay, the Federal Government wants to give them loans, which is wrong,” he said.
Former ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, argued that salaries should range between N1m and N5m monthly.
“If Nigeria truly values education and wants its universities to compete globally, professors must be paid what they are worth. Anything short of this will only worsen the brain drain,” he warned.
