The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, has rejected the Federal Government’s proposed salary increment for university lecturers, describing it as inadequate to address the ongoing brain drain in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
The zonal Coordinator, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, made the position known yesterday while briefing journalists in Benin. He criticized the increment as “a mere drop in the ocean” and lamented the government’s “blatant unwillingness to quickly and holistically resolve all outstanding issues” affecting university staff.
Igbafen stressed that the government needs to satisfactorily conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement and address other related matters. He described salary and conditions of service as “sore points” requiring urgent and radical intervention to prevent a looming crisis in the university system.
He added that university lecturers have continued under the 2009 salary regime, when the naira-dollar exchange rate was N120, despite multiple upward revisions in other sectors since then. “We are saying enough is enough to the back-and-forth approach of the Federal Government. This half-hearted approach must stop now. This ‘we are talking with ASUU’ without results must stop,” Igbafen emphasized.
The union warned that without a meaningful revision of salaries and working conditions, the challenges facing Nigeria’s universities, including the persistent exodus of skilled academics, will remain unresolved.
