Nigerian teachers: Lured by passion, imperilled by political class, broken system

For decades, university teachers have been locked in an unending battle with the Federal Government in a bid to radically improve the fortunes of Nigerian universities, as well as pay them living wages. However, the anti-intellectualism posture of the Federal Government has found vent in the contemptuous manner that the government has treated agreements that it willingly entered with the key stakeholders in the Nigeria University System (NUS), including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). As the world celebrates tomorrow, the 2024 World Teachers’ Day in commemoration of the anniversary of the adoption of the 1996 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, IYABO LAWAL, LAWRENCE NJOKU, OWEDE AGBAJILEKE and MURTALA ADEWALE report that like other Nigerians, university teachers are also ravaged by untimely deaths induced by the inclement work environment, poor pay, the rising cost of living among others.

Professor Patrick Ugiagbe’s vibrant and zestful approach to teaching at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), made him a delight to his students. Full of life and very enthusiastic about tomorrow, the moniker, “Professor of Life,” given to him by his students, was worth its weight in gold.

A dynamic researcher and futuristic teacher, Ugiagbe died a pauper last May. His colleagues insist that he was starved to death by the Federal Government because the authorities withheld his 24 months’ salary following issues arising from the highly controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Ugiagbe was 58.

Professor of Philosophy at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Ojediran Oyedele, suffered a similar fate as Ugiagbe. Oyedele was considered a modern-day Aristotle by his students, as he was imbued with eloquence and logic of extraordinary dimension.

Dexterous and diligent, he did not live long to reach his potential and contribute his quota to national development. Oyedele fell ill, ran some tests, and was referred to a specialist hospital for further treatment. But he could not afford the cost. By the time the cold hands of death descended upon him, he had nothing left for his family to live on. He breathed his last at 56.

Earlier in April this year, Prof. Abdulkadir Kamar of the Department of Physical and Health Education, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) also died due to health complications.

The following month (May), Prof. Mustapha Kokari, of the Department of Biological Sciences, UNIMAID also died after a brief illness.

Earlier in March, at Bayero University, Kano, Dr Gambo Haruna of the Department of Microbiology, slumped and was rushed to the university’s clinic, where he was confirmed dead.

An eminent Professor of Fisheries, Johnson Oyero, of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Niger State, died due to his inability to afford quality medicare. Due to inconsistencies in the payment of salaries as a result of IPPIS, Oyero could not afford drugs when it mattered most.

Dying wretched
For university teachers in Nigeria, these are indeed perilous times as reflected in the litany of deaths recorded on campuses.

Amid the worsening economic situation, galloping inflation, poor remuneration, poor working conditions, and welfare, as well as the neglect of university education by the government, workers in tertiary institutions have become emasculated in an unprecedented manner, and their fortunes constantly dipping.

Nothing reflects these plunging fortunes than the biting economic realities, and a seemingly deliberate attempt by the government to annihilate a once-vibrant army of intellectuals, who have been taking on past governments in their fight for social justice, academic excellence as well as, a just and an egalitarian society.

Recently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) raised the alarm when it disclosed that at least 40 lecturers succumb to stress-related deaths every quarter across the country.

“We are losing our members at an alarming rate. At every National Executive Committee meeting that comes quarterly, we don’t have less than 30 to 40 lecturers dying all over the nation. And these are stress-related deaths,” lamented Dr Sylvester Ugoh, ASUU Chairman, University of Abuja branch.

He added: “The stress of survival, coupled with the lack of adequate compensation, is taking a devastating toll on our mental and physical health. Our meagre salary can no longer take us home. So, our members are forced to rely on makeshift measures, moonlighting, and begging to provide for their families.”

ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, added that the most recent headcount showed a loss of 89 in less than three months.

“We lost 89 members in three months. The reason for this ugly development is lack of money because most of the deaths were due to a lack of money to address their health challenges.”

The union leader blamed the government for the fatal toll, stating: “It is the implication of what the government is doing to us because the government has withheld lecturers’ three and a half months’ salaries, and those who were promoted are not getting their promotion arrears. For those who were promoted and their salaries adjusted, the arrears are still being held,” Osodeke disclosed.

These grim statistics stoutly negate the ideals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Teachers’ Day, held yearly to celebrate teachers around the globe.

World Teachers’ Day is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education, reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.

But three decades after the initial commemoration of the day, university education and lecturers in Nigeria remain at the mercy of governments that appear to pay scant attention to educational excellence.

As matters stand, Osodeke says the situation today points to a distant past, a sordid present, and a forlorn future.

“Let me give a typical example. If you do currency equivalent, in 2009, when we had an agreement with the government on salary for lecturers, a professor earned the equivalent of about $3,000 per month. But today, when you make the same comparison, what a professor earns now is about $300 a month.”

His estimate is not far-fetched. Based on the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS), in federal universities, a PhD holder under CONUASS 3(1) earns N130,002.17 monthly; a senior lecturer on CONUASS 5(1) earns N231,107.50; a new professor on CONUASS 7(1) earns N325, 531.62, and a professor at bar under CONUASS 7(10) earns N416, 000.

To become a professor, Osodeke said a lecturer must publish several research works, adding that lecturers are forced to use their salaries to research because “none of the government agencies give funds to lecturers”. However, that was not the case in the past when there were research funds that lecturers could access.

The academic union leader alleged that grants have been blocked. “So, there is nothing like grants again,” Osodeke said. “Lecturers have to either source for research grants abroad or have to use their money (salaries) to fund their research.”

Lecturing in Nigeria: A matter of life and death
YINKA Adeyemi, a lecturer at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, pointed out that making lecturers’ voices heard had become a matter of life and death because they are not just fighting for better working conditions, but for our very lives.

“The system is suffocating us, and it’s heartbreaking to see colleagues depart prematurely due to preventable stress-related illnesses,” Adeyemi emphasised.

With such a pathetic scenario in sight, Ugoh, the UNIABUJA branch chairman of ASUU stated that lecturers’ morale is at its lowest ebb, stressing that disclosing that inflation-fuelled hike in the cost of living has compounded their woes.

“It’s quite tough for lecturers in public universities. These are the people that, before you even get a promotion, you are expected to publish in reputable journals, and some of them can charge as high as $600 to $1,000. And nobody gives you anything. It is from that meagre salary that you are expected to publish, buy books, and attend both local and international conferences. It’s quite tough and unbearable for lecturers in Nigerian public universities,” said Ugoh.

The lecturer also mentioned that many of his colleagues cannot drive their cars because they cannot afford to buy fuel, and commuting by public transport “is not easy either. This situation has turned university teachers into mere beggars.”

According to him, some lecturers spend between N10,000 and N15,000 daily to fuel their vehicles to move from where they live to work.

“Imagine doing so daily, and you go to work for 28 days. Will your salary sustain this? Feeding is not there; rent is not there, and money to do your academic activities, including research is also not there. Morale is at its lowest ebb. The effect is obvious,” added Ugoh.

“Some lecturers cannot eat well or pay for their medication because of the meagre salary that they earn. It’s quite a difficult time for Nigerian university lecturers in public universities. It’s quite tough. And something needs to be done.”

With a professor in a federal university earning a monthly salary of N403,000, a bag of rice costing N100,000, and fuel selling at almost N1,000 per litre, the odds are high against the lecturers.

State capture of the university system?
AMONG the thorny issues afflicting university teachers’ relationship with the Federal Government are the IPPIS, unpaid earned allowances, delay in the renegotiation of FGN, SSANU, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions (NASU) agreements, and the non-payment of minimum wage arrears.

ASUU’s demands also include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement; the release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the Universities Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) for payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers.

ASUU thinks that the government’s approach is all motion and no movement as the years pass by.

“We have been earning salaries that were given to us since 2009. Look at what has changed in the field. Our government doesn’t see anything wrong in that,” stated Osodeke. “Those who went to adjunct somewhere else, they don’t pay them. So, those are our crises, and the government doesn’t seem to be bothered…Do you know why? Their children are not here. If their children were to be in Nigerian universities, they would have looked in that direction. So, they are removed from what is happening here and it does not bother them.”

For the ASUU chieftain, the fundamental issue is adequately funding the universities. “It’s part of our negotiation,” he stated. “The minimum UNESCO recommends is that between 15 and 20 per cent of your budget should go to the education sector. But today, no government in the sector has given up to 10 per cent…The Federal Government does not seem to be interested. So, that is the problem. In any system, if you destroy your education system, you will destroy the country.”

Stakeholders in the tertiary education system do not think the Federal Government is interested in the progress of university lecturers, and the development of public tertiary institutions.

A senior lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Dr Maxwell Ngene, said that survival has become a big challenge for lecturers following the inability of the Federal Government to honour the full agreement entered with them.

According to Ngene, ASUU members are living in penury.

“To cope, many lecturers have diversified their income streams through private tutoring, consultancy services, entrepreneurial ventures, and online teaching, to mention just a few,” he stated, pointing out that resolving the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement will significantly alleviate lecturers’ plight, address critical funding and infrastructure, as well as academic freedom and autonomy.”

Ngene added that implementing the agreement without further delay would restore lecturers’ dignity, pride, and motivation.

He stated that financial autonomy is crucial for universities’ development, stressing that it would enable institutions to manage resources effectively, allocate funds based on priorities, and attract grants and investments.

He stated that when a lecturer fails to deliver the subject matter expertly, or engage in quality research due to poverty, it adversely affects the quality of graduates that he/she produces.

He, therefore, asked the Federal Government to ensure that lecturers are adequately taken care of and that the right facilities are provided to spur national development.

“All I can tell you is that we need to effectively take care of the lecturers if they must continue to perform optimally. It will be difficult for any teacher to enter the classroom and teach well when he is hungry, Lecturers cannot even engage in meaningful research when they are not sure of the next meal,” Ogbodo explained.

He also urged the Federal Government to stem the current economic woes faced by lecturers to save the tertiary education system from total collapse.

On his part, Mohammed Mohammad of the Aliko Dangote University, Kano, said that the failure of the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement has made lecturers unable to “feed their families let alone educate their children” and that the salaries they earn are “so meagre that a lot of them are considering resigning.”

Exodus of our best brains
THE Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, recently alluded, and publicly too, to the dire condition of the university system, and an attendant exodus of its best brains.

“I can confirm to you that we have lost more teachers in Nigeria than any other sector, and for teachers in tertiary institutions, it takes at least 15 years to have somebody with a PhD. So, if you lose one, it’s a very major loss to the country,” he said.

By the “loss of more teachers” he meant about 50 per cent of the lecturers have resigned from the various universities, while 80 per cent of the current occupants are also warming up.

Factors fuelling their exodus, according to an investigation, are the same: the desire for a better work environment, career fulfillment, insecurity, poor salary, inadequate funding, unpaid outstanding, and better prospects for themselves and family members.

ASUU President Osodeke revealed that the directive “that says governing councils should superintend employment in varsities is not being followed,” with the power to hire still with the Head of Service and accountant-general, leaving the ratio between academic staff and students as one to 50, one to 60.”

The ASUU chief said that lecturers “are doing excess work, and nobody is compensating them, hence their decision to flee the country for greener pastures where they would be duly compensated. Now, you cannot employ an academic because you have to get permission from the Head of Service, then head to the Federal Character Commission, and next, the National Assembly, where they will give you a list of people who ordinarily should not be qualified to be lecturers, but force (them) on the system,” the ASUU president alleged.

IPPIS, alive and kicking
FEDERAL universities have remained on the crucible over a payroll system that ASUU detests with a passion.

This is besides the unfinished business of the 2009 agreement. Presently, the union is threatening a showdown and has given the government “another 14 days, in addition to the earlier 21 days, beginning from Monday, September 23, during which all the lingering issues must have been concretely addressed to the satisfaction of the membership of the union.”

ASUU also demands the release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments affected by IPPIS, and the payment of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions. It also wants funding for revitalising public universities and the payment of Earned Academic Allowances, partly captured in the 2023 budget.

“IPPIS has put us where we are today. Today, everybody has agreed that IPPIS has destroyed the system,” Osodeke said matter-of-factly.

“Let me give you an example. Within the university today, there are staff (members) who have retired and those who have left the country but are still earning salaries from IPPIS. You can quote me,” the union leader alleged, adding that the law establishing universities indicated that the governing council would manage the university’s funds.

“What the government needs to do is to release universities’ budget allocations to them to manage and get these universities to render account at the end of the day. But today, all the universities are being paid from one unit, and nobody knows what they are doing,” Osodeke added.

“Last December, at a FEC meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu, the Federal Government ordered the Accountant-General of the Federation to remove tertiary institutions, including universities, from IPPIS. But as we speak, I got my September salary based on IPPIS,” Osodeke stated. “

Time to take education seriously
ASUU is far from impressed with the cat-and-mouse relationship that exists between the Federal Government and the NUS hence its insistence that the way forward is for the government to take Nigerian universities seriously.

The university union insists that the government should develop the infrastructure, asserting that ASUU can use the combined cranium capacity of its members to improve the well-being of the country.

“But they don’t believe in that. So, what we are saying in effect is that the government should fund the Nigeria University System in line with UNESCO’s recommendation of giving 15 to 20 per cent of its budget to education. When you do that, the system will flourish.”

The Federal Government earmarked only 8.8 per cent for education in the 2023 budget; 7.9 per cent in 2022; 5.14 per cent in 202; 5.13 per cent in 2020; 5.86 per cent in 2019, and 5.94 per cent in 2018. In 2024, it was 7.9 per cent.

ASUU is also asking the government to implement the N300 billion that is in the budget for the revitalisation fund and “obey what we agreed that on each budget, the government will give N200 billion to all Nigerian public universities for revitalisation. If this is implemented, the system will work.”