Dearth Of Professors, Graduate Assistants Hit Nigerian Universities

Many Nigerian universities across the country are presently ravaged with dearth of academic professors and graduate assistants owing to federal government new policy.

An investigation by Sunday PUNCH has revealed that the ban on employment imposed by the federal government has led to a shortage of professors and other academic staff members in federal universities.

Findings showed that some universities, which depend on professors on sabbatical, had lost the accreditation of certain courses, while others were given interim accreditation by the National Universities Commission due to the dearth of professors and enough academics for certain programmes.

It was gathered that the situation was worsened by the insistence of the Federal Government to use the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System as the payment platform for lecturers.

The IPPIS, according to stakeholders, does not recognise adjunct professors and those on sabbatical, which informed the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to develop the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative payment platform.

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Academics, some of whom are management staff members of their respective institutions, affirmed that there was indeed a shortage of professors owing to the ban on fresh employment. They said this had also frustrated the old arrangement of retaining first-class graduates in their departments.

A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Prof. Charles Uko, said in an interview with one of our correspondents that the ban on employment had frustrated the recruitment of new staff. Uko, a structural engineer, stated that he was the only professor in his department and that he would soon retire.

He stated, “I am the only professor in my department and I will be retiring soon. Before, we normally retained our first-class graduates; but for the past six years, we have had a number of first-class graduates, but we have not been able to retain them. One of our best students just got a scholarship to study abroad. I pleaded for many years for the lady to be employed by the university, because she is an academic material.

 “When these young intellectuals come in, we mentor them and supervise their postgraduate thesis and they take over from us. The IPPIS forced on academics is not helping matters. Departments are short-staffed. Before, we had academics on sabbatical. You teach in the school and you get paid there but sometime ago, it was stopped. Some universities depend on these professors on sabbatical.”

Uko recalled that when he went on sabbatical, he served as the head of department in the school because the department did not have a PhD holder as lecturer.  He noted that a department could not run postgraduate courses successfully without professors.

He added, “For instance, a private university recently graduated PhD students and it achieved this through the adjunct professors. So, if government is saying they are not ready to employ, there is a problem.

Other times, when they want to employ, it is done from Abuja and they don’t employ the best brains and what the universities need. We focus on our first-class graduates and then on those with second-class upper divisions. In my department, we lost accreditation three years ago. When they came back in November, we were given interim accreditation. We are not happy. “

The ASUU Chairman at the University of Jos, Plateau State, Dr Lazarus Maigoro, said it was an understatement to say there was a shortage of professors. He noted that as professors retire and some die, there are no replacements. He said the challenge should be addressed with all the urgency it required.

In an interview with one of our correspondents, Maigoro stated, “On this issue, if you say scarcity, it is an understatement. That is the current situation across all federal universities because of the introduction of the IPPIS.

For instance, if a professor retires and there is no replacement, the university will have no choice but to retain him on contract or go to another university to get someone on sabbatical. The IPPIS will not pay the visiting professor or someone who comes on a sabbatical; they are usually paid an allowance because, as far as the IPPIS is concerned, the person has retired and shouldn’t have anything to do with the university.

”Universities are crumbling at this moment. I can tell you that there are lecturers who have not been paid since 2020, even after several complaints were made. The only reason there is a dearth of professors in our universities is that people are retiring and dying with no replacement. “

He explained that before the vice-chancellor of a federal university could recruit academics, it could take more than a year, because they would have to pass through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation, Federal Character Commission and Office of the Head of Service, and each process would take minimum of three months.

Similarly, the ASUU Chairman at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Dr Gbolahan Bolarin, told Sunday PUNCH that most departments of engineering were seriously understaffed and in dire need of senior lecturers.

He said, “At the moment, we don’t have anyone on sabbatical because of the IPPIS and we have some departments that are in need of senior academics