Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has expressed serious concerns over the pay disparity between Nigerian lawmakers and university lecturers, especially PhD holders.
He said given the current pay gap, Nigerian PhD holders will need to save for over 85 years to afford lawmakers’ N160m SUV. Obi’s remark is in response to the recent comments made by Chris Maiyaki, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), regarding the state of Nigeria’s education system.
On August 13, during the 2024 Registry Lecture at Babcock University, Ogun State, Maiyaki acknowledged that Nigeria’s university system has experienced a significant decline over the last 30 years. He said that increasing the number of PhD holders could help address the decline in educational standards.
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According to him, Nigerian graduates were once celebrated both locally and internationally, but today the system is beleaguered by several issues, including poor governance, academic corruption, and severe underfunding. He noted that the current state of tertiary education is fraught with social vices, economic pressure, manpower shortages, and the persistent disruption of academic calendars due to strikes.
“Some of these are also attributed to poor governance systems and also sometimes the broken family system. We have fallen short in procuring state-of-the-art museum modern current journals, books, and laboratory equipment in some cases,” Maiyaki explained.
He further highlighted that one of the solutions to these challenges would be the production of more PhD holders, which he believes would help stabilize the system.
“We need more PhDs; we need to stabilize. The system has suffered a lot of instability due to a combination of factors. We need sustained constant funding and so many things to be done,” he added.
However, Obi countered that while Maiyaki’s suggestion has merit, it overlooks fundamental obstacles. On August 16, Obi took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his disagreement with Maiyki’s assertion, noting that the prolonged time it takes to earn a PhD in Nigeria and the inadequate compensation for academics makes it difficult to achieve Maiyaki’s proposed solution.
The former Anambra State governor explained that earning a PhD in Nigeria often takes a minimum of ten years following secondary education due to a combination of inefficiencies, lack of resources, and delays within the system.
“According to the Executive Secretary, the situation requires the production of more PhD holders to address these issues. However, the Executive Secretary’s solution overlooks several obstacles, such as the unnecessarily prolonged time it takes to obtain a PhD in Nigeria and the frustrating disparity between wages and the level of academic attainment in the country,” Obi stated.
He further highlighted that the salary disparity between PhD holders and lawmakers is especially troubling.
“If fortunate, one might be employed as a Lecturer Grade 2 with a monthly salary of around 150,000, often paid irregularly, totaling N1,800,000 annually. In stark contrast, our legislators, whose required educational qualification is merely a secondary school certificate, receive a monthly salary of N21 million, which is more than 10 years’ salary of a PhD holder,” he said.
This striking difference in pay, according to Obi, weakens the motivation to pursue higher education and contributes to a diminishing respect for academic qualifications in Nigeria.
Obi’s comparison between the financial realities of PhD holders and legislators underscores a broader concern about the cost of governance in Nigeria, which many citizens have decried as excessively high. For years, Nigerians have called for a drastic reduction in the financial resources allocated to public officials, particularly members of the National Assembly, whose salaries and allowances are seen as disproportionate to the country’s economic challenges.
The 2024 federal budget allocation for the National Assembly, for example, highlights this imbalance.
According to the Budget Office of the Federation, the total 2024 budget for the National Assembly stands at N514.85 billion. Of this, N49.14 billion is allocated to 109 Senators, each earning a monthly salary of N37.57 million. Meanwhile, the 360 members of the House of Representatives are allocated N78.62 billion, with each receiving N18.20 million per month.
Obi pointed out that these figures are alarming, especially when compared to the annual earnings of PhD holders who contribute significantly to the country’s intellectual and academic growth.
“The wage gap between our legislators and PhD holders, combined with the prolonged time it takes to complete advanced degrees in Nigeria, disincentivizes academic achievement and undermines the value of education in the country,” Obi stated.
He argued that the government must address the wider issue of economic inequality if it hopes to reform the education system.
Obi is known for revamping Anambra’s education sector. Thus, his critique of the NUC’s proposal calls attention to the systemic issues at the heart of Nigeria’s educational decline. While producing more PhD holders might be part of the solution, Obi indicates that the root causes of the country’s educational challenges need to be addressed. He advocates for a comprehensive approach that includes fair compensation for academics, and the provision of adequate resources to universities, financed through a reduction in the cost of governance, particularly the exorbitant pay of lawmakers.
Obi’s comments echo the sentiments of many Nigerians who have long called for reforms in the political and economic system. For years, critics have argued that Nigeria’s governance model is too expensive, with much of the nation’s budget being funneled into maintaining an oversized and overcompensated political class.
The sharp contrast between the financial rewards for public office holders and the meager earnings of highly educated professionals like PhD holders is largely believed to be a reflection of a fundamental misalignment in Nigeria’s priorities.