Prof. Tunde Adeoye, a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Lagos, has called on the Federal Government to urgently address the issue of lecturers’ welfare by reviewing their salaries, warning that failure to do so could trigger another round of industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Speaking in Ota on Wednesday, Adeoye reacted to the ongoing nationwide protests staged by ASUU, stressing that the government must demonstrate sensitivity to the plight of academic staff. He urged the Federal Government to return to the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, noting that the central issue revolves around improving the salary structure of Nigerian lecturers.
“The reality is that ASUU members also have families and aged parents to care for. At the moment, many of our colleagues cannot even pay their house rents. Some lecturers battling illnesses have died due to lack of funds for treatment, while others with hypertension cannot afford their routine drugs. Most of us teach on empty stomachs and shoulder the workload of four people because of the federal government’s employment embargo in universities,” Adeoye lamented.
He further explained that a full professor in Nigeria currently earns about ₦500,000 before deductions, which reduces to around ₦300,000 after statutory charges. He contrasted this with the situation in other African countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, where lecturers are better remunerated.
Adeoye therefore appealed to the Federal Government to urgently adjust lecturers’ salaries in line with present economic realities. He emphasized that improving the welfare and working conditions of Nigerian academics is not only essential to retaining talent but also critical in curbing the growing trend of brain drain in the country’s education sector.
