Poor Pay, Brain Drain Push First-Class Lecturers Out of Nigerian Universities – UNILAG Former VC

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No fewer than 239 first-class graduates employed as lecturers by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) left the institution within a seven-year period, largely due to poor pay and unfavourable working conditions.

This revelation was made by the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, on Tuesday at The PUNCH Forum, themed: “Innovative Funding of Functional Education in the Digital Age”, held at The PUNCH Place, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Ogundipe disclosed that while UNILAG employed 256 first-class graduates as lecturers between 2015 and 2022, only 17 remained as of October 2023.

“At UNILAG, we decided that those with first-class honours should be employed. What is remaining is not up to 10 per cent. All of them have gone. In 2015, 86 were employed; in 2016, 82; during my time, that is, 2017 to 2022, 88 were employed. As of October 2023, only 17 were on the ground,” he said.

The former UNILAG VC attributed the mass exit to poor remuneration, unconducive work environments, and lack of motivation, warning that Nigerian universities risk being dominated by women in the next decade if urgent reforms are not implemented.

“Many of our colleagues, especially the young ones, are tired. By the time you get home, there is no light, and the Federal Government is saying they are giving us N10m to access as loans. Can I use N10m to build a security post? Unless something is done, two things will happen in our universities soon: women will occupy the universities, and postgraduate programmes will be filled by candidates who are not well-prepared,” Ogundipe added.

He lamented chronic underfunding of the education sector, pointing out that budgetary allocations for both federal and state institutions have remained below 10 per cent, far short of UNESCO’s recommended 15–26 per cent.

Ogundipe urged lawmakers to enact a law mandating each first-generation university to receive at least ₦1bn annually to address decayed infrastructure. He stressed that universities should not have to depend solely on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which ought to be directed towards research and innovation.

The Redeemer’s University Pro-Chancellor also highlighted the broader consequences of poor funding:

  • Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally, estimated between 10–22 million.
  • Over 60 per cent of primary education funding goes to teacher salaries, leaving little for capital projects.
  • Infrastructure, technology, and research facilities in most universities are overstretched or completely absent.

Calling for innovative financing strategies, Ogundipe advocated public-private partnerships, alumni endowments, philanthropy, education bonds, and targeted diaspora investments.

“The private sector should see education support not just as social responsibility but as enlightened self-interest in building the workforce of tomorrow. Alumni, both at home and abroad, must give back, while civil society, donor agencies, and the media must push education funding as a national priority,” he said.

He concluded by urging Nigerians to see education as a sacred trust: “Our fingerprints, our footprints, our names should be found in the library buildings, the digital labs, the scholarships, and the lives changed.”

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