Professors and other academic workers in Nigerian tertiary institutions have been demanding improved welfare and working conditions from the Federal Government via the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
ASUU revealed that its members are given “peanuts” as a salary while working relentlessly to impart important knowledge to students who are then released into society to contribute to Nigeria’s socioeconomic progress.
Dele Ashiru, the Chairman of ASUU’s University of Lagos (UniLag) chapter, said on one of Nigeria’s national television channels (TVC) on Friday that the highest paid professor in the country earns N450, 000 per month.
“It means that if a professor works for 20 years at any university, he or she will get a pay raise,” he explained. That is why we are requesting a revision of our contract so that our service quality can improve.
“We teach students who control the affairs of the country and beyond, can afford thrice the salaries of our professors and other academic staff members. Regrettably, these students cannot be taught by unmotivated lecturers if this situation continues
“We also demand that government send visitation panels to federal universities to examine governance issues therein. People accused universities of being corrupt but that is what the visitation panels ought to unravel.
“The law stipulate that visitation panel should be dispatched to institutions every five years but that has not been done in the past 10 years by the Federal Government. That was the reason for the overbearing powers allegedly exercised by people like Dr. Wale Babalakin, who was the Chairman, Governing Council of UniLag. He played “god” in the university whilst he was in the Council.
Kemi Filani News gathered that some Nigerian professors actually earn as low as 416,000 naira as their monthly take home pay.