The Academic Staff Union of Universities, on Tuesday, raised the alarm that most departments and units in Nigeria’s public universities were short-staffed due to the resignation of lecturers in search of greener pastures.

The Chairman of the University of Ibadan Chapter of ASUU, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, who disclosed this in Ibadan, Oyo State, said Nigeria’s public universities were in very pitiable conditions with stress and frustration visible in the faces of poorly-remunerated lecturers.

He said, “Except President Bola Tinubu arrests the situation by reviewing the conditions of service in terms and salaries, allowances, and infrastructure, many good hands will continue to resign and leave the country. Unfortunately, the same government that is not funding education has a National Assembly proposing to establish 32 more universities.”

The chairman said poor and delayed salaries, unpaid allowances, poor infrastructure, lack of respect for the academic community, and the seeming dwindling hope are some of the factors responsible for the resignation of lecturers in the past few months.

Akinwole suggested that establishing more universities will not solve the problem, but rather improve the capacity of existing universities to be able to admit more students.

“The union has received reports on how colleagues resign on a monthly basis because of the way lecturers are treated and poorly remunerated in Nigeria. Universities around the world are poaching more quality hands, and if not halted by the government, through intentional reviewing of upward conditions of service, it will be difficult to retain the best hands.

“Vice Chancellors can not single-handedly employ to replace staff as urgent as it is needed again. They have to contact Abuja for approval, which may take six months to a year, if not more, before they get approval. By this time, the best candidate has gone to a more serious country that respects quality. Sadly, people from higher up there from the Ministry of Education to legislators themselves want to dictate who the universities should employ,” the don said. (The PUNCH)

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