The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, has warned that Nigerian university lecturers are among the poorest paid in Africa, a situation he said continues to trigger frequent strikes and weaken the country’s higher education system.
Olayinka raised the concern while delivering a convocation lecture at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State. His lecture, titled “Strengthening the Academic Tradition in the Nigerian University System,” focused on the deep-rooted challenges confronting public universities across the country.
According to the former vice-chancellor, chronic underfunding, poor service delivery, ageing academic staff and persistent industrial actions by university unions have combined to stall meaningful progress in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
He warned that strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would remain a recurring feature unless both federal and state governments take deliberate steps to improve lecturers’ welfare and fix decaying infrastructure on campuses nationwide.
Backing his argument with data, Olayinka cited findings showing that a Nigerian professor with less than 10 years in the professorial cadre earns about $4,400 annually, a figure he described as dismal when compared with peers elsewhere in Africa. In contrast, professors in South Africa earn about $57,471 per year, while Kenya pays around $48,000.
Other African countries, including Eswatini ($41,389), Lesotho ($32,455) and Gabon ($29,907), also pay significantly higher salaries despite having smaller economies. Even Sierra Leone ($18,000), Zambia ($14,949) and Comoros ($12,960) rank above Nigeria.
Olayinka lamented that such poor remuneration discourages bright minds from embracing academia as a lifelong career.
“A nation that impoverishes its teachers undermines its future,” he said. “Intellectual labour cannot be chained, and scholars cannot be caged. Lecturers are global citizens in a borderless world of ideas, and any government that fails to honour them ultimately dishonours itself.”
The professor urged governments to tackle the root causes of labour disputes in universities by prioritising staff welfare and adequate funding, rather than relying on temporary solutions to suppress strikes.
He also called for the recruitment of more qualified academics through transparent and competitive processes to improve staff-to-student ratios, while stressing the importance of continuous staff development through seminars, conferences and workshops.
Olayinka further advocated greater use of ICT tools in teaching and postgraduate supervision, recommending that retired supervisors be allowed, under special arrangements, to continue mentoring postgraduate students for up to three years after retirement.
He added that emeritus professors and adjunct lecturers should be more effectively deployed, particularly in postgraduate teaching and research, while universities must maintain existing facilities and invest in new equipment to support quality education.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, described the convocation lecture as a platform for engaging with bold and transformative ideas capable of shaping the future of Nigeria’s university system.
He praised Prof. Olayinka as a distinguished scholar and visionary administrator who has remained committed to upholding academic excellence.
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