University professors are the lowest paid in the world, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Yola, has revealed.

El-Maude Gambo Jibreel, the branch chairman made the disclosure at a press briefing in Yola on Thursday.

He lamented, “Our members have been on the same salary for over 15 years; the last time our salaries were reviewed was in 2009.”

He reiterated that lecturers in Nigeria are the least paid in Africa, not to talk of the global average, adding that they are the worst paid in the world, as a professor earns less than $300 per month at the current rate of N1,489 per dollar in a month.

According to him, “Many Nigerians do not understand the strike it had been embarking on for years, there is a need for the public to understand what the struggle of ASUU is all about and join hands with ASUU to save the educational sector in Nigeria and place Nigeria on the development path.”

He explained that the exclusive wisdom behind the 2022 eight-month strike action was to make the federal government of Nigeria implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of February 7, 2019, which the Union and FGN agreed upon without any duress.

As a union, El-Maude stated that they are and still not demanding the government to do anything new but the implementation of what they agreed upon in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 with the federal government.

He also expressed concern over the fact that the federal government’s budget for the country’s universities does not go into the university’s account, saying that the budgetary allocation to education has been so disappointing, which worsens the situation as only a small fraction of what is budgeted for is released to universities.

In the last budgetary exercise, he noted that N170 billion was earmarked as a revitalisation fund but the money has not reached the universities, stressing that the level of decay in the infrastructure in the public universities in Nigeria can better be imagined.

He also called on people, especially those passionate about national development, to join hands to bring back the country’s glory, assuring that the union is in a patriotic struggle to reposition the Nigerian university system.

As a consequence, he called on all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians, the media, labour movement, students’ organisations, and civil society to join forces with ASUU in ensuring they safeguard the future of the country.