The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has dismissed the federal government’s proposed salary increase for lecturers, calling it “a drop in the ocean” that cannot address the worsening brain drain in universities.
The reaction comes after ASUU’s National Executive Council reviewed the government’s offer — a 35% raise for professors and a slightly lower increment for other academic ranks.
ASUU Benin Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Monday Igbafen, said the offer does nothing to remedy the economic hardship faced by lecturers, noting that salaries have remained stagnant since the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.
He pointed out that a professor who earned the equivalent of $3,000 monthly in 2009 now takes home barely $400 due to the naira’s decline.
In Lagos, ASUU Zonal Coordinator Prof. Adesola Nassir also rejected the proposal, saying it keeps Nigerian academics among the lowest paid globally and cannot slow the mass departure of lecturers to better-paying countries.
From the Bauchi Zone, Prof. Timothy Namu faulted the government’s claim of “paucity of funds,” citing rising FAAC allocations as proof that the issue is not money but “political will and priorities.”
ASUU is urging the Federal Government to return to the negotiation table and conclude the long-delayed renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, stressing that the current offer falls far short of what is needed to stabilize the university system.
