By Uboh-Ekong Treasure
The immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has revealed that no fewer than 239 first-class graduates employed as lecturers left the institution within seven years, citing poor remuneration and unfavorable working conditions.
According to him, UNILAG had retained 256 first-class graduates as lecturers between 2015 and 2022, but by October 2023, only 17 remained in the institution’s service, with the rest resigning to seek better opportunities elsewhere.
“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,” Ogundipe said. “In 2015, 86 were employed,in 2016, 82,and between 2017 and 2022, another 88 were employed. But by October 2023, only 17 were left.”
He attributed the mass resignations to poor salaries, lack of motivation, and dilapidated infrastructure in Nigerian universities. He warned that unless urgent reforms are introduced, the trend could reshape the university system within the next decade.
“Very soon, in the next 10 years, you will have only females in universities if something is not done. The calibre of people who will come for postgraduate studies will also be those who are not supposed to come,” he added.
Ogundipe further lamented that Nigeria’s education sector has been chronically underfunded, with federal and state allocations consistently below 10 per cent of annual budgets, far short of UNESCO’s recommended 15 to 26 per cent.
He called for innovative funding strategies beyond government allocations, including alumni endowments, education bonds, philanthropy, public-private partnerships, and diaspora-targeted investments. He also urged legislators to enact laws mandating that each first-generation university receive at least N1 billion annually to address decayed infrastructure.
Ogundipe, who currently serves as Pro-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, stressed the urgency of private sector involvement, alumni contributions, and donor partnerships to revamp the education system.
“The private sector should see education not just as corporate social responsibility but as an investment in the workforce of tomorrow,” he said.
