NIGERIAN PROFESSORS EARN GARDENER’S 3-HOUR PAY-ABIMBOLA EX OAU VC
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The former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Professor Wande Abimbola, has criticized the federal government for the inadequate compensation of university lecturers, asserting that without any notable enhancement in the university system, it faces imminent deterioration.
Currently residing in the United States, Abimbola also condemned the insufficient salaries of lecturers, remarking that a professor’s monthly earnings are comparable to what a gardener makes in merely three hours in the United States.
Consequently, he has urged the federal government to urgently implement a financial relief package for individuals within the academic sector to rejuvenate the standard of education.
Professor Abimbola addressed these issues as a guest on the monthly interview program, Boiling Point Arena, hosted by media expert and public relations strategist, Dr. Ayo Arowojolu.
The discussion was centered on the theme: “Nigerian Universities: Tower of Crises, Citadel of Missed Opportunities. Can the Lost Glory be Reclaimed? ”
The program, presided over by a prominent monarch, the Olowu of Owu, Oba Professor Saka Matemilola, was conducted via Zoom and broadcast live on six radio stations: WASH FM, Sweet FM, Roots FM, Eri-mbe FM, Women Radio, and Kruzz FM, as well as on cable television, NSTV on Gotv Channel.
The former Vice-Chancellor expressed concern that universities are undergoing unprecedented challenges, with professors receiving egregiously low monthly salaries that equate to what his own gardener earns for a three-hour task of lawn maintenance and flower trimming at his residence in America.
Hear him: “A university system is an important part of the fabric of any nation. As at 1989 when I left as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, our institutions were still at their peak of quality. However, within five years or less than ten years after my exit from the position of VC, I visited the University and almost cried because of what I saw, the level of decadence. It has been getting worse since then.
“The most important thing about university is funding. We need to ask our governments, both at the federal and state levels, why they have been aloof and looking on until things got this bad. The federal and state governments don’t really care. Why are they looking on as if they are not concerned?
“The university system is getting worse and worse in every aspect. I don’t even know how the faculty and staff of the Nigerian universities have been able to continue to survive on the pittance they take as salaries.
“Recently, about two years ago, I went back to the university where I was the VC. I visited my department, and I was told that a full professor earns about N500,000 monthly. When we converted the amount, this is almost equivalent to the $300 academics elsewhere in the United States will use to take care of his garden within just three hours.
“So, if these governments are not interested in supporting the universities, they should wind them up. It’s a big shame to the Nigerian Government. When I went to Ile-Ife campus, the lawns where children used to play had been overtaken. It’s a shame.
“The worst part of it is that they are still establishing more universities. Everywhere you look, there’s a university of this and that. And why are they establishing more and more universities when the ones that exist are not catered for? Why are they not funding existing universities?
Professor Abimbola, a globally recognized scholar and former Senate Majority Leader, continues to lecture at several prominent universities in the United States, even at the age of 92.
Additionally, he noted that Nigerian universities, which once ranked within the top 500 globally and held positions among the top 11 in Africa, are now relegated to lower standings in the top 1000.
He continued: “I am sure that we can do better as a nation. Maybe it’s a lack of understanding as to what a university is supposed to be, or the people in government don’t understand that. The worst thing is that people in the past, even the recent past, used to think Nigeria is a place where the universities are wonderful because the products are everywhere in the world. We have produced so many people in science, in technology and in the arts, who are teaching or functioning in research and development all over the world.”
He asserts that certain repercussions of the current situation in Nigerian universities are that the faculty members are financially constrained and are unable to participate in international conferences, nor can they author or contribute to global academic journals. He emphasizes that all of these factors have significant implications for their capacity to conduct research.
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