By Agency Report

Nigerian universities have struggled with declining academic standards, frequent strikes, and the migration of lecturers abroad. At the centre of these challenges lies an often-ignored factor: the salary structure of university lecturers.

Across higher education systems worldwide, lecturers’ welfare often plays a decisive role in determining the quality of learning students receive.

Experts argue that the importance of productivity among lecturers in tertiary institutions is critical because it directly enhances the quality of teacher training, ensuring that future educators are well-prepared.

Besides, they say that work remuneration, including various compensation packages, rewards, fringe benefits, pay, and allowances, plays a significant role in lecturers’ productivity in aspects of instruction, research supervision, publication and community service in various tertiary institutions across the nation.

Experts express worries that unproductive lecturers can significantly undermine national economic, social, and environmental sustainability by regressing knowledge.

They maintain that persistent poor remuneration amid economic crunch is fueling a massive brain drain in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, deepening crisis in the nation’s university system, where inadequate research funding have combined to erode morale and productivity among lecturers.

Kayode Soremekun, a former vice-chancellor at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) expressed concern that Nigerian lecturers are grossly underpaid.

“The underpayment is such that the average lecturer is on the look-out perpetually for opportunities abroad.

“The government should tackle the problem frontally, and examine what obtains in countries such as South Africa and match same, or even go beyond it. Otherwise, we will be caught in this morass for a long time,” he said.

Nigeria is one of the countries that pays university lecturers and professors the lowest salaries on the continent, according to data on salaries of professors with less than 10 years in the professorial cadre in African public universities.

Nigerian professors earned an average of $366 (about N500,000) monthly, far behind their counterparts in other African countries.

A report, made available on the University of Ibadan’s website, indicates that assistant lecturers, arts fellows, and librarians II have a specific salary scale with minimum annual salary of N794,260.00, while the maximum annual salary is N957,402.

For lecturer II, and research fellow II, the minimum salary per annum is N897,501, while the maximum annual salary is N1,074,314. Lecturer I, and research fellow I, receive a minimum annual salary of N1.12 million, while the maximum annual salary is N1.44 million

According to the report, a senior lecturer is paid a minimum annual salary of N1. 65 million, while the maximum annual salary is N2,35 million.

Data on salaries of professors with less than 10 years on the professorial cadre in African public universities show that while a Nigerian professor earns about $4,400 annually, a South African professor takes home $57,471 yearly, more than 13 times higher.

Professors in Kenya, earn $48,000 per annum, while Gabon professors earn $29,907, Seychelles, $13,950, and Ghanaian professors receive $12,960 yearly.

Soremekun noted that a lecturer’s job is unique and must be appreciated, because the situation lends itself to comparative dynamics.

“It is an international dimension in which comparisons can be made with the salaries of Nigerian lecturers and their counterparts abroad.

“When such comparisons are made, the push and pull factors can be very enormous. To this extent, the very good lecturers will migrate to other climes, and the Nigerian social formation will certainly be the worst for it,” he said.

Stanley Alaubi, a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, emphasised that improved salary can affect learning outcome positively; because a happy lecture due to a better salary will give out his best to produce a better graduate.

Alaubi urges the government to ensure that the structure of lecturers’ salary is at par with the economic reality of the country.

“The purchasing power should actually be that which can take lecturers home, and a take home pay should actually take one home,” he said.

To address the issue, he said the federal government should abide by the 2009 agreement with ASUU.

Jessica Osuere, the chief executive officer at RubiesHub Educational Services, stressed the fact that poor remuneration de-motivates lecturers, increases brain drain and pushes lecturers into multiple jobs, which would reduce the time they have for teaching, research, mentoring, and feedback.

“This ultimately weakens instructional quality and students learning outcomes,” she noted.

Osuere said the core issue with lecturers’ salary structure is largely structural.

“We still run outdated salary frameworks, such as CONUASS, there’s weak funding of education, we are still battling with poor policy implementation, and lack of political priority for higher education,” she said.

She highlighted the need for regular review of salaries to reflect present economic realities.

“There is the need to link pay to performance and research output, the government should also improve funding for universities, and provide incentives such as research grants, training, housing, academic resources,” she stressed.

Nubi Achebo, director academic planning at Nigerian University of Technology and Management (NUTM), disclosed that problem is rooted in public universities reliance on the government funding, which results in inadequate funding.

Besides, he decried the fact that education does not seem to be a priority in the government’s the budget allocation.

To mitigate this, Achebo advocates public-private partnerships, alumni support, and policy reforms.

“Collaborations, and engaging alumni in fundraising efforts can provide additional funding and resources,

“Besides, we need education policy changes and increased budget allocation,” he said.

Stakeholders believe that the quality of university education is closely tied to the welfare of those who deliver it.

Hence, without a competitive salary scheme for lecturers, Nigeria risks weakening the very foundation of its higher education system.

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