University lecturers in the country are once again poised for a showdown with the government over a number of welfare issues, chief among which is their salary structure that they want enhanced.

While there are three registered academic staff unions in the university system in the country, namely the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the Congress of University Academics, CONUA, and the Medical and Dental Consultants? Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, they are all of the view that their take home pay is grossly inadequate.

Last week, a new minimum wage was announced by the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, which guarantees a monthly salary of N104, 000 to the least paid government employee.

Lecturers in the state-owned universities are also beneficiaries.

With the new salaries announced by Uzodimma, lecturers in Imo State owned university appear to be the highest paid in the country.

Whereas professors in federal universities earn N633, 333 per month, their Imo University counterparts take home pay is now N812, 000, thanks to the Uzodimma gesture.

But by contrast, Nigeria?s elected public office holders, especially lawmakers, earn by far more than university professors who educate and train the next generation, a situation which many have described as absurd.

Whereas the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Committee (RMAFC) puts senators pay at around N1 million per month, there is a claim that each of them, for instance, earns up to N21 million.

Meanwhile, the N21 million claim could not be confirmed by Sunday Vanguard at press time as lawmakers take home pay, when you add all the emoluments, is a closely guarded secret.

But, in a 2024 interview, Senator Shehu Sani, who served in the eighth Senate, said that as a member of the Upper Chamber, he earned N13 million monthly, adding that the take home pay for members of the current 10th Senate had since gone up to N21 million.

Sani said that the RMAFC was being economical with the truth by saying senators earn just a little over N1 million per month.

He said on a Channels TV programme, ?I was a senator and I believe I had correct knowledge about what actually happened at that time and I believe is what is happening now.

?Well, RMAFC was just playing with figures, they were specific in saying this is the salary of senators and then they went on to give a breakdown of N20 million which they said was what every senator earn in four years.

?But I think they are being economical with the truth and I think I understand their fears in terms of telling the truth when they know what is actually happening.

?Before I came to this interview, I was going through the papers and I saw a statement credited to one of the senators from Kano, Distinguished Senator Kawu Ismaila, who confirmed what I said about senators particularly of this set receiving up to N21 million monthly.

?During my time, I was in the Senate and I was pricked by my conscience as an activist who went to the Senate to unveil what has been made secret for over two decades.

?I believe that taxpayers and Nigerians in general have the right to know how much their legislators are earning and how much they are actually being given.

?I went on as a serving senator then to disclose what I received monthly, what is credited into my account at that time and it was 13.5 million.?

The former lawmaker said he did not believe there was any need to deceive Nigerians or cover up anything.

He said that since legislators receive public money, it is necessary for those involved to come out and say it as it is like he did.

And there is an effort ongoing to raise the salaries of public office holders in Nigeria, including that of senators.

Governor Francis Nwifiru has also just raised the minimum wage in Ebonyi State to N90,000 from the national rate of N70,000.

Nigerians react

Apart from lecturers themselves, Nigerians, from all walks of life, have been reacting to the salary structure university lecturers are subjected to.

Many wonder what the salaries of non-academic staff would be if academic ones are earning peanuts.

The Founder of Concerned Parents and Educators Network, CPE, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, on one of the social media handles of the group, wrote, ?I owe all lecturers an apology. I never knew a Prof earns less than 600k, less than a local govt councillor. We need an Education rethink.?

The post elicited various responses with some comparing what lecturers and public servants earn with what political office holders earn.

A commentator wrote, ?Nigerian professors in Nigerian public universities earn about N600, 000 per month at the peak of their careers. They earn some bogus monies too when they head departments or champion some research funded by foreign organisations. They have money; don?t be deceived. But here is a surprise.

The Federal Government said that Nigerian senators earn just N1, 000, 000, with some allowances which was less than N10 million.

?But senators themselves said they earn N14, 000, 000 (N14 million) per month.

?Here is the first kicker.

?It will take a person about 10 years from 100 Level to become a PhD holder. In fact, holding a PhD does not make a person a professor. It makes them a doctorate degree holder.

?The person must have written several peer-reviewed journals, headed some research works at their own expense, and gained years of teaching experience. Yet, they earn. N633, 333 per month.

?What does it take to become a Nigerian senator?

?The second kicker. WAEC results!

?SS.3 WAEC, either F9 parallel or whatever is enough. Just complete SS3, and a person has fulfilled the academic requirement to become a senator.

?Some group of elders expect someone who want to reach the pinnacle of academics in Nigeria to complete three academic milestones after senior secondary school, yet people who will rule a whole country including over 11, 000 professors are expected to have just WAEC/NECO results. ?And they are paid higher! Is it that this is a Nigerian problem, that we really do not value education like that?

?The third kicker?

?Who is called upon by these WAEC result holders to rig elections? No be me talk am o.

We can do better.

?People who will lead a country need to be educated.?

In his opinion, Ayobami Adeyinka noted that what students pay as fees are related to what their teachers earn.

?How much were you expecting a Prof to earn when school fee is N75, 000 per session? These things are connected and interwoven.

The UK scenario

?In the UK where the average take home for a Prof is ?80, 000 per annum, the average student fee is around ?9,500

?In the UK, it costs an average of ?125,000 to train one Medical Doctor.

?Please note that fees are financed in the UK through education loans.

?The point here is to point out the interrelatedness of students? fees and earnings by Academics.

?In Nigeria, to bring about some semblance of progress, we need to tweak the current funding structure to provide a semblance of cost recovery.

?We live in the illusion of being a rich country by our dependence on crude oil, but the facts don?t support the assumption.

?It is simply about logics and economics.?

Salary relatively stagnant since 2009 ? CONUA

Commenting on the development, the National President of CONUA, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, said salaries of university lecturers and other workers in the university system have been relatively stagnant since 2009.

?Salary has remained stagnant since 2009 and there have been some attempts to raise it, but what they have been doing is mere tokenism?, he said.

?That is simply not enough bearing in mind the economic realities of today. The inflationary pressure in the country is high.

?I don?t know how our leaders feel when they go to international conferences and see that they are treating the nation?s intellectuals badly.

?Lecturers deserve living wage. We are not beggars and we should not be treated as such.

?However, CONUA as a union wants to sound a note of warning that any negotiation about university lecturers? salary, welfare and others that we are not invited to make our own input will be invalid.

?We are duly registered as a staff union in the university system and the International Labour Organization Convention 98 is clear on collective bargaining.

?It also provides that where there are multiple staff unions operating in a sector, when issues relating to workers in that sector are being discussed, all the staff unions must be present.

?Not calling us will not only violate that convention that Nigeria is a signatory to, it will also be against the Trade Union Act and the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended?.

Pay us living wage ?ASUU

While leading his members on a protest on campus, the Branch Chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Prof. Idou Keinde, said his members deserve living wage.

He faulted the stance of the Federal Government which set up a loan facility for lecturers when the same government is owing them a number of dues and entitlements.

He said If the FG fulfills its promise of giving lecturers their dues, there would not be any need for members to run after any loan.

?The loans are to be guaranteed by our union. This is not necessary, the Governing Council of each university can give loans to our members based on our condition of service?, Keinde said.

?If we are paid living wage and if all our allowances are paid as expected, who would want to go borrowing money? Let them do the needful and we are okay?.

Demands

University lecturers and the government have been at loggerheads for some years now over some issues the lecturers want the government to look into.

Some of their demands are the provision of facilities to aid teaching and learning; stoppage of the proliferation of universities by federal and state governments; adequate funding of universities; payment of living wage; payment of Earned Academic Allowances; release of N200 billion yearly as revitalisation funds to the universities to help them provide some facilities among others.

Most of the demands were agreed to and accepted by the government in 2009 which formed the basis for the agitation for the implementation of the 2009 agreement.

The lecturers, under the auspices of ASUU, say they will soon go on strike unless the demands in the agreement are met. The agreement was reached by the parties during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan, who even paid N200 billion revitalisation fund once before leaving office. (Sunday Vanguard)

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