Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday at Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), the Lagos Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Prof. Adesola Nassir, said the proposed adjustment does little to address the economic realities facing Nigerian academics. He described the offer as “wretched,” arguing that it would keep lecturers among the lowest-paid in Africa.
Nassir explained that despite the headline figure of 35%, the actual take-home pay for university lecturers remains far below what is required to maintain a standard of living equivalent to their professional expectations. He noted that when the 2009 ASUU–Federal Government agreement was signed, a Nigerian professor earned the equivalent of about $3,000 per month. Today, he said, that value has fallen to roughly $400 due to inflation, currency depreciation, and years of stagnant remuneration.
“Even with this 35% increase, the salary of a professor will still not reach one million naira. And after taxes, it drops to around seven hundred thousand,” he said. He warned that such conditions continue to fuel brain drain and undermine the quality of education in public universities.
Beyond wages, ASUU underscored what it described as the chronic underfunding of Nigeria’s education sector. Nassir pointed out that government spending on education has consistently remained below 10% of the national budget over the past decade, with current allocations now below 1% of GDP. By contrast, countries like Egypt and South Africa allocate closer to 2% and 6% of their GDP respectively to education.
“The funding crisis in education is not new, but it has reached a critical level,” he said. “The government must confront the perilous consequences of its neglect and prioritise the future of our children.”
ASUU called on Nigerians, civil society groups, and stakeholders to support its push for more robust educational financing, warning that the current trajectory threatens national development.
As negotiations between ASUU and the federal government continue, the union signaled that industrial action may be unavoidable if meaningful progress is not made. Nassir cautioned that unless the government honors commitments made in the 2009 agreement, “a miracle will be needed to avoid a complete shutdown of public universities.”