ASUU: 84 Lecturers Die in Three Months Amid Unpaid Salaries Crisis
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed that 84 lecturers died between May and August 2024 due to economic hardship worsened by unpaid salaries.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, made the disclosure during an interview on Channels Television’s “Inside Sources” with Laolu Akande.
He attributed the deaths to the harsh living conditions caused by the government’s ongoing salary withholding and economic policies like fuel and electricity price hikes.
“In the past three months, Nigerian universities lost 84 academics because of what our people are going through,” Osodeke said, highlighting the plight of university staff under the government’s “no-work, no-pay” policy during strikes. He urged the government to address the crisis, adding that lecturers’ meager earnings, including his own N420,000 monthly salary after 15 years as a professor, make it difficult for them to compete globally.
Osodeke called for immediate reforms and adequate funding to safeguard the future of university education in Nigeria.
