The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday replied a comment by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo that he collected N620 as a lecturer II when he started teaching in the University of Lagos in 1981.
In a post released on the Union’s Facebook page yesterday, the Union argued that the Vice President’s mention of his salary in 1981 had no relevance to the unjust treatment of university lecturers today.
Recall that at the 53rd Annual Conference of the Association of the Nigerian Law Teachers held in Kano State on Tuesday, the Vice President hinted at how fast life had changed for Nigerians.
He said, “I started teaching in the University of Lagos in 1981 as Lecturer II, and my salary at the time was N620. This clearly shows that the importance of law teachers in the life of the nation”
While giving some mathematical analysis of the Vice President’s N620 and the salaries paid to University lecturers, the Union noted that his salary was heavier than the meagre amount received by University lecturers in the country today.
“In 1981, 0.62 Naira is $1 (official rate was actually 61 Kobo). Therefore, N620 is worth 620 × 1/ 0.62 equals $1,000
“Convert $1,000 to naira at today’s exchange rate of about 575 (BDC) equals to 1000 × 575 which gives N575,000 per month
“If you use present official rate of 420 naira, you have N420,000 per month
“Now, this is practical demonstration of how poorer lecturers have become in today’s Nigeria. Which University pays a junior lecturer (between N420,000 to 575,000) per month? Even Professors at the bar now earn less than N500,000 whereas in 1981 such got a modern equivalent of not less than N200,000 monthly”.
