Nigerian university professors are demanding a minimum monthly salary of ₦2.5 million, insisting that anything less has become untenable in today’s economic reality. The call, which has gained momentum among members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other senior academics, follows years of agitation over poor pay and unfulfilled government promises.
At present, professors earn between ₦525,010 and ₦633,333 monthly under the existing salary structure, a figure lecturers say is far removed from the harsh cost of living in the country. Graduate Assistants take home as little as ₦125,000, while Assistant Lecturers, Lecturers I and II, Senior Lecturers, and Readers all fall far below the ₦1 million mark. This wage scale, they argue, has remained largely stagnant since 2009 despite repeated negotiations and government panels recommending upward reviews.
Some professors have described the ₦2.5 million demand as long overdue, noting that their counterparts in other African countries already earn the equivalent of that amount and sometimes more. Professor Remi Aiyede of the University of Ibadan stressed that Nigerian lecturers are among the worst paid in Africa, while yet expected to deliver world-class research and teaching.
For Professor Abigail Ndizika-Ogwezzy of the University of Lagos, the problem goes beyond statistics. She explained that renting a modest home around Akoka now costs at least ₦3 million per year, without considering children’s school fees, transportation, or healthcare. “Our workload is enormous, but the pay is not only inadequate, it is insulting. Many of us are breaking down under the pressure,” she said.
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Other lecturers like Professor Sheriffdeen Tela of Babcock University have compared their salaries with those of political office holders, pointing out that a single legislator earns in one month what a professor may not earn in an entire year. Former ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, warned that without better pay, Nigeria will continue to lose its brightest academics to other countries, deepening the brain drain crisis.
The push for a ₦2.5 million minimum salary is not happening in isolation. Earlier this year, the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) declared it “ridiculous” that no Nigerian professor earns up to ₦1 million monthly, while the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) went further, issuing a 15-day ultimatum to the government and demanding ₦3 million minimum salary for medical academics.
The federal government now faces mounting pressure to address these grievances, with lecturers already protesting across campuses nationwide.
Failure to act, many warn, could trigger another round of strikes and further damage the country’s struggling education system.
For professors, the message is clear: in a country where inflation is rising, rents are soaring, and politicians pocket millions monthly, anything less than ₦2.5 million is simply no longer enough to survive, let alone to teach, research, and mentor the next generation.
