“239 First-class Lecturers Quit UNILAG Over Poor Pay” – Ogundipe

No fewer than 239 first-class graduates of the University of Lagos, employed as lecturers, left the institution within seven years.

Immediate past Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking as guest lecturer at The PUNCH Forum, themed: “Innovative Funding of Functional Education in the Digital Age,” held at The PUNCH Place, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Reeling out statistics, Ogundipe said UNILAG retained 256 first-class graduates as lecturers between 2015 and 2022, but only 17 remained in the institution’s employ as of October 2023.

He attributed the mass exodus to poor remuneration, unconducive working conditions, and low motivation among lecturers.

Ogundipe said, “At UNILAG, we decided that those with first-class honours should be employed. What is remaining is not up to 10 per cent. All of them have gone. One day, I asked the man in charge to give me this information.

“In 2015, 86 were employed; in 2016, 82; during my time, that is, 2017 to 2022, 88 were employed. As of October 2023, only 17 were on the ground. They have gone. Very soon, in the next 10 years, you will have only females in the universities if something is not done.”

He noted that unless the government adequately funds the sector, universities would, in the next decade, be dominated by women, while poorly prepared candidates would gain entry into postgraduate programmes.