A fresh crisis is brewing in Nigeria’s university system as lecturers, under various unions, intensify calls for a salary review amid sharp disparities between academic pay and the jumbo packages of political office holders.

At present, professors in federal universities take home N633,333 monthly, while their colleagues in Imo State-owned universities earn as high as N812,000, following Governor Hope Uzodimma’s recent minimum wage increase to N104,000 for civil servants.

But in stark contrast, senators reportedly earn up to N21 million monthly, according to disclosures by former Kaduna lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, despite the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) putting lawmakers’ basic salary at just over N1 million.

Sani, in a 2024 interview, accused the RMAFC of “being economical with the truth,” insisting that Nigerian senators receive hefty monthly allowances far beyond the official figures. He recalled earning N13.5 million monthly during his time in the 8th Senate, a figure he says has since risen to about N21 million.

The huge gap between what professors earn after years of academic training and what lawmakers take home with minimal educational requirements has sparked outrage among Nigerians.

Education advocates, parents, and commentators on social media have described the pay disparity as “an insult to intellectualism” and evidence that Nigeria undervalues education.

One parent, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, Founder of Concerned Parents and Educators Network, wrote:

“I owe all lecturers an apology. I never knew a professor earns less than N600,000, less than a local government councillor. We need an education rethink.”

Another commentator noted:
“It takes at least a decade to earn a PhD and further years to become a professor. Yet, they earn less than N700,000. But with just WAEC, anyone can qualify to run for Senate and pocket millions monthly. It shows how little Nigeria values education.”

The disparity has further fueled agitation within the academic unions. President of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, lamented that lecturers’ salaries have remained stagnant since 2009 despite worsening inflation.

“What the government has been doing is mere tokenism. Lecturers deserve a living wage. We are not beggars and should not be treated as such,” Sunmonu said, warning that any salary negotiation that excludes CONUA would be “invalid” under ILO Convention 98.

At the University of Lagos, ASUU branch chairman, Prof. Idou Keinde, also accused the Federal Government of neglecting lecturers’ welfare while proposing loan schemes for them.

“If we are paid living wages and our allowances are settled, who would want to take loans? Let government do the needful,” Keinde said.

The unions are also demanding:

Adequate university funding and infrastructure

Payment of Earned Academic Allowances

Annual release of N200 billion revitalisation fund as agreed in the 2009 FG-ASUU pact

Halt to the proliferation of universities by government without adequate funding

ASUU has warned that failure to implement the 2009 agreement, first signed under President Goodluck Jonathan, may force it to embark on another nationwide strike.

With Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru also raising the state minimum wage to N90,000, analysts warn that the widening pay gap between professors and politicians could fuel unrest in the tertiary education sector and deepen Nigeria’s brain drain.