University professors across Nigeria have renewed calls for a significant review of their salaries, demanding a minimum of N2.5 million monthly, as frustrations mount over poor remuneration and the Federal Government’s failure to implement the renegotiated 2009 FGN–ASUU agreement.
Currently, a Nigerian professor earns between N525,010 and N633,333 monthly, while graduate assistants take home as little as N125,000. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has consistently agitated for improved welfare, insists the present pay structure is both “unsustainable and demoralising.”
Speaking on the issue, Prof. Remi Aiyede of the University of Ibadan noted that Nigerian academics are among the most underpaid on the continent, despite government-commissioned reports recommending higher pay.
“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. In fact, a million naira is conservative. Professors in Nigeria should not earn less than N2.5m monthly,” he said.
At the University of Lagos, Prof. Abigail Ndizika-Ogwezzy linked poor wages to declining productivity and wellbeing.
“Anything less than N2.5m for a professor at the bar is not it. Look at the reality—rent, feeding, school fees, healthcare. We are carrying the burden of three, four, five people. Many lecturers cannot pay their children’s school fees,” she lamented.
Also weighing in, Prof. Sheriffdeen Tela of Babcock University described the gulf between academics and politicians as indefensible.
“Even if a professor earns N1.2m a month, it’s still less than what a legislator takes home in one month. Many professors live on loans because their salaries are not enough,” he stressed.
Former ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, backed the demand, calling for a salary scale of between N1 million and N5 million for professors.
“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.
Observers say the government’s response to these demands will determine whether the long-standing crisis in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector deepens or finds resolution.
