By Oluseye Ojo
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed great concern to President Bola Tinubu over a shortage of staff in Nigeria’s public universities, due to frustration and mass resignation by lecturers seeking greener pastures.
The union noted that many departments and units are short-staffed due to a significant number of lecturers resigning to seek better employment conditions within and outside the country.
The ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan Chapter, Prof Ayo Akinwole, raised the alarm during an encounter with journalists in Ibadan on Tuesday.
He listed factors responsible for increasing resignation of lecturers to include poor and delayed salaries, unpaid allowances, poor infrastructure, lack of respect for the academic community, and the seeming dwindling hope in the public university system.
According to Akinwole, the public universities are in a pitiable condition, with poorly-remunerated lecturers experiencing stress and frustration on a daily basis.
He was worried that unless something is done regarding salaries, allowances, and infrastructure, more quality hands will continue to resign and leave the country.
Akinwole further noted that it is unfortunate that the same government that is purportedly not funding education has a National Assembly, proposing to establish 32 more universities.
He suggested that instead of establishing more universities, the carrying capacity of existing ones should be improved.
The government policy, according to him, has made it difficult to even retain good hands, saying it could take up to a year to employ and get approval from Abuja, “a process that the best candidates will not be willing to wait for, leading them to greener pastures.
Akinwole lamented that people who know very little about how a university should be run have started dictating how to administer universities, adding that “This is highly detrimental to the educational system and discouraging for staff who are dedicated to their work.”
The ASUU has received reports that colleagues resign on a monthly basis due to how poorly they are treated and how little they are remunerated in Nigeria. He stated further that universities around the world are poaching more quality hands, which will lead to more brain drain if something is not done soon.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to review and increase salaries, allowances, and infrastructure for staff of all public universities. He also enjoined the government to reduce bureaucracy when hiring new staff and give universities more control over the process.
“Vice Chancellors can not single handedly employ to replace staff as urgent as it is needed again. They have to contact Abuja for approval, which may take six months to a year, if not more, before they get approval. By this time, the best candidate has gone to a more serious country that respects quality. Sadly, people from higher up there from the Ministry of Education to legislators themselves want to dictate who the universities should employ,” he said.