Nigerian Professors Struggle With Poverty, Low Wages, Says Kaduna Varsity Dean, Audi T. Giwa
Professor Audee T. Giwa, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and a former Dean of Students Affairs at Kaduna State University (KASU), has expressed concern over the impoverished state of most Nigerian professors.
He highlighted that many professors in Nigeria can barely afford to own cars due to low salaries and the harsh economic conditions.
Professor Giwa made these remarks after participating in the "Diversity in Science" project, an initiative of the Pharmafluence Education Advancement Network (PEAN) in collaboration with KASU.
He pointed out that the average salary of a professor in Nigeria is less than N500,000 per month, despite the general perception that professors are wealthy.
“How many people do you know who can’t afford to drive their own cars? These so-called rich people are not professors, because we are already poor. When you see a professor driving, they are one of the very few exceptions. Yet, society still considers us as wealthy,” he stated.
“Quote me anywhere, no professor in this country earns more than N500,000 a month. Some earn as little as N300,000. Despite this, society sees us as rich, and if we say we are broke, no one believes us,” he added.
Professor Giwa explained that the seminar aimed to teach students about inclusiveness rather than focusing solely on diversity, encouraging them to find common ground instead of emphasizing differences.
He also criticized Nigerian leaders for exploiting the country's diversity for political gain, uniting among themselves while leaving the populace in poverty.
According to him, diversity should ideally benefit the nation, but it currently doesn’t, and even the semi-affluent are now sliding into poverty.
Pharmacist Kenneth Bitrus David, the Founder and CEO of Pharmafluence Education Advancement Network (PEAN), also spoke at the event. He noted that the seminar, funded by the Biochemical Society, aims to educate academics and students on the importance of promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in their respective fields.
David stressed the need for more compassionate classrooms and initiatives to reduce both implicit and explicit biases in education, especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.
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