Nigerian Lecturers calls for increase in salaries, across Universities

Nigerian lecturers are advocating for salary increases, highlighting that professors currently earn just N525,000 per month.

As per the Consolidated University Academic Salary structure, Graduate Assistants have monthly salaries that range from N125,000 to N138,020, while professors earn between N525,010 and N633,333 monthly.

Assistant Lecturers make between N150,000 and N171,487, whereas Lecturer II positions offer salaries from N186,543 to N209,693. Salaries for Lecturer I roles range from N239,292 to N281,956, and Senior Lecturers receive between N386,101 and N480,780. Readers earn between N436,392 and N522,212.

Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, raised concerns about the diminishing morale among faculty members.

He said, “The lecturers are tired, the morale is low, and lecturers are poorly paid. Academic staff members are on the edge, itching to leave. The standard of teaching is going down. As Vice Chancellor, I earned N900,000 as salary. My present salary as a professor, still in the system, is N700,000. My son saw my pay slip and described it as a joke. Do you know that some lecturers sleep in the office?”

ASUU President Piwuna highlighted that a significant number of lecturers receive salaries slightly above N400,000. He criticized the government for neglecting academia in favor of increasing salaries for politicians.

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He said, “Well, from experience, Nigerian elites or the political class always look after themselves. So, we’re not surprised that the arms of government that Nigerians are most dissatisfied with are the ones that are getting the pay rise, while those who work day and night to ensure that the country keeps moving, who are making tangible contributions to the growth of this country, are being neglected.

“Our salaries have remained stagnant, and that has affected the quality of lecturers that we can attract into the universities. That has also affected our morale, and because our morale is low, certainly the output would also be affected. And so our salaries have been a major area of concern for our members.

“Our salaries, our condition of service have always been a product of collective bargaining. And the last time this was done was in 2009. Talking about increases, for instance, this government has made an increase through the minimum wage, but all that was added to our salaries, and it’s for every public service, is N40,000.

“So, professors that were earning a little over N400,000 have still not been able to get to the N500,000 mark that you’re talking about, except for professors that have had annual increases for maybe 10, 20 years.”