As the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatens to embark on another round of strike action, the reasons why public universities’ lecturers in Nigeria frequently borrow from either banks or cooperative societies to meet some of their basic needs have been revealed as the salary structure revealed that universities lecturers are poorly paid.
The salary structure reflects that some graduates with Bachelor Degree in government parastatals in Nigeria earn more than professors, who have put over 15 years into service.
After the mandatory deductions from their salaries, the highest paid professor earns monthly, N72, 380 less than N500,000 monthly, while the lowest paid professor receives N174,469 less than N500,000.
According to the new salary structure of the members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), using the New Minimum Wage and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) formula, taking effect from May 2020, it was revealed that the monthly net salary of professor at bar is N427,620.40, translating to $784 per month.
For better understanding, the highest take home of the highest paid professors in Nigerian universities is N427,620.40 per month.
The table revealed that the annual gross salary (basic plus allowances) is N6,664,214.00. When this gross salary is split into 12 months, it gives N555,351.17, out of which N127, 730.77 is mandatorily deducted to give a net salary (take home) of N427,620.40.
The deductions from the salary of professor at bar are: NHF 2.5 percent, (N13,883.78), pension 7.5 percent, (N41,651.34 (N61,088.63) and union due 2 percent, (11.107.02), totalling N127,730.77 deductions.
For the new professor, who is on CONUASS 7 (1), the net salary (Monthly take home) is N325,531.62.
The annual gross salary (basic plus all allowances) is N5,073,220.00, split into 12 months as monthly salary gives N422,768.33. After the mandatory monthly deduction, the new professor is left with N325, 531.62 as a monthly take home.
The deductions are: NHF 2.5 percent (N10,569.21), pension, 7.5 percent (31,707.63), tax, 11 percent (N46,504.52), Union 2 percent (N8,455.37), totalling N97,236.72.
The Senior Lecturers, who are on CONUASS 5 (1), earns N231, 107.50 after deduction of N54,563.08.
The gross salary (basic plus all allowances) for this cadre is N3,428,047, which is split into 12 months to give N285,670.58 as monthly salary. Out of this, N54,563.08 is mandatorily deducted to give N231,107.50 monthly take home.
The deductions are: NHF 2.5 percent (N7,141.76), pension 7.5 percent (21,425.29), tax, 7 percent (N20,282.61) and union 2 percent (N5,713.41, totalling 54,563.08.
New lecturers with PhD, referred to as Lecturer 11, placed on CONUASS 3 (1) earn a net salary of N130,002.17.
The gross salary (basic and all allowances) is N1,925,958, split to 12 months give N160,496.50 monthly salary and after the mandatory deduction of N30,4944, the take home is N130,002.17.
The deductions, according to the table are: NHF 2.5 percent (N4,012.41), pension 7.5 percent (N12.037.24), tax 7 percent (N11,234.76) and union2 percent (N3,209.93), totaling N30,494.34.
