The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Modibbo Adama University (MAU) in Yola has raised concerns over the dire financial situation faced by Nigerian university professors, claiming they are the lowest paid in the world.
El-Maude Gambo Jibreel, the branch leader, highlighted this issue during a press briefing in Yola on Thursday. He expressed frustration that academic staff salaries have remained unchanged for over 15 years, with the last review occurring in 2009.
“Our members have been on the same salary for over 15 years; the last time our salaries were reviewed was in 2009,” Jibreel lamented. He noted that Nigerian lecturers are the least paid in Africa and earn less than $300 per month, given the current exchange rate of N1,489 per dollar.
Jibreel emphasized that the public needs to understand ASUU’s long-standing struggle, urging support to improve the educational sector and drive Nigeria towards development. He explained that the eight-month strike in 2022 aimed to push the federal government to implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) from February 7, 2019, which was agreed upon without duress.
Asserting that ASUU’s demands are not new, Jibreel stated, “We are and still not demanding the government to do anything new but the implementation of what they agreed upon in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 with the federal government.”
Jibreel also criticized the federal government’s handling of university budgets, stating that allocations do not reach the universities’ accounts. He pointed out that while N170 billion was earmarked as a revitalization fund in the last budgetary exercise, the funds have not been disbursed, worsening the already decaying infrastructure in public universities.
He called on all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians, the media, labor movements, students’ organizations, and civil society to support ASUU’s efforts to safeguard the future of the country and reposition the Nigerian university system.
“This is a patriotic struggle to reposition the Nigerian university system,” Jibreel assured, urging collective action to restore the nation’s educational glory.
