The Nigerian Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo revealed on Tuesday in Law teachers’ conference at Kano that during his early career as a Lecturer at University Of Lagos (UNILAG), in 1981 he earned N620 as senior lecturer.
READ WHAT HE SAID:
I started teaching at the University of Lagos in 1981, as lecturer II, my salary at that time was N620, this clearly shows that the place of law teachers is crucial and important to the lives of the nation.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), replied to the Vice President by saying no lecturer in Nigerian University earn such amount of money if the money is broken down to our present Nigeria.
Below is the conversion by ASUU:
(He had his LLB from UNILAG in 1978 and obtained a Masters degree of Law from the London School of Economics in 1980. So, he must have been employed as LII or L1 in 1981 since he became a Senior Lecturer in 1983).
Let’s do a little math.
(official rate was actually 61 kobo)
Therefore, N620 is worth = 620 x 1/0.62 = $1,000
Convert $1,000 to Naira at today’s exchange rate of about N575 (BDC) = 1,000 × 575 = N575,000 per month
If you use present official rate of 420 Naira, you have N420,000 per month.
Now, this is a practical demonstration of how poorer lecturers have become in today’s Nigeria.
Which University in Nigeria of today pays a junior lecturer between N(420,000 – 575,000) per month? Even Professors at the bar now earn less than N500,000 whereas in 1981 such got the modern equivalent of not less than N2,000,000 monthly.
