VC Says Profs’ Minimum Salaries Should Be N1m

The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, has called on the government to increase the pay of academics in the country, saying a professor, for example, should not earn less than N1 million a month.

The FUOYE VC, who spoke at Oye Ekiti on Sunday while receiving a commendation award from the Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ekiti State Council, also hailed the Federal Government’s decision to exempt public universities from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

Fasina said removing varsities from the IPPIS would allow for greater autonomy and a more effective running of the tertiary institutions’ affairs.

Speaking on the benefits of exiting from IPPIS, the VC said, “The advantage is that lecturers can now independently decide on proper management of the system and also take from the institutions IGR to supplement what is given by the government.

He advocated a salary increase, saying lecturers are currently poorly paid in Nigerian universities and a professor should not earn less than one million naira.

He also noted that there is so much bureaucracy in IPPIS, as some staff members have yet to collect their salaries for many months now.

He said that by the singular act of exiting universities from IPPIS, “President Bola Tinubu has demonstrated his genuine intention and commitment to turning around the fortunes of the education sector, as the exemption would birth a new university system.