A NIGERIAN senator earns N21 million monthly as a total take-home pay, but a senior university professor gets N6 million annually, Economy Post can confirm.

A senator representing Kano South, Mr Sumaila Shehu, recently revealed that he receives N21 million monthly in his interview with BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday. 

Sumaila, however, explained that his basic monthly salary as a senator was N1 million, but allowances and other perks of office made up the N21 million every month.

“My monthly salary is less than N1 million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000. Given the increase  in the Senate, each senator gets N21 million every month as running cost,” he said.

However, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) responded to Mr Sumaila, saying that a senator earns a little above N1 million each month, and not N21 million.

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But on Channels Television’s “Lunchtime Politics” on Wednesday, a former senator, Mr Shehu Sani, corroborated Mr Sumaila’s position, saying that senators earned much more than N1 million monthly.

“I was a senator and I believe I had correct knowledge about what actually happened at that time and I believe is what is happening now. Well, RMAFC was just playing with figures. They were specific in saying this is the salary of senators and then they went on to give a breakdown of N20 million which they said was what every senator earns in four years.

“But I think they are being economical with the truth and I think I understand their fears in terms of telling the truth when they know what is actually happening,” Mr Sani, who had in 2018 claimed that a senator earned N13.5 million monthly, said.

No honour for university professors

There is little honour for Nigerian professors. Nigeria’s university professors earn about N500,000 monthly, according to two of them who spoke with Economy Post.

This is just about $300-$330 in today’s Nigeria. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a university professor gets $6,983.39 monthly, while the same university teacher earns $2,382 each month in India.

Professors at a Nigerian university Source: The Pulse

One of the professors who spoke with Economy Post, said: “The most senior professor in Nigeria earns about N500,000 as a monthly salary. This is not even enough to take anybody home these days considering the current high cost of living in the nation.”

The Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) shows that a PhD holder under CONUASS 3(1) earns N130,002.17 monthly. A senior lecturer on CONUASS 5(1) earns N231,107.50 monthly, but a new professor on CONUASS 7(1) is paid N325,531.62 monthly. A professor at bar under CONUASS 7(10) gets N416,000.

Branch leader of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Adamawa State, Mr Maude Gambo Jibreel, said at a press briefing in Yola in June 2024 that “lecturers in Nigeria are the least paid in Africa and the worst paid in the world.”

According to Daily Post, Mr Jibreel said that a professor in Nigeria earns less than $300 per month at the current rate of N1,489 per dollar in a month at that time.

“Many Nigerians do not understand the strike it had been embarking on for years, there is a need for the public to understand what the struggle of ASUU is all about and join hands with ASUU to save the educational sector in Nigeria and place Nigeria on the development path,” he had said.

Pay professors well

Professionals are perplexed that Nigeria runs a system that rewards people who contribute little to mankind well but neglects or ignores those who do much for the citizens.

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“We reward thieves and denigrate saints,” said a lawyer and human rights activist, Onyedika Ilokwem. “A university professor should not earn less than N2 million monthly. Before becoming a professor, you have to conclude your master’s and PhD degrees. You then become a junior lecturer and climb some steps before moving to the position of senior lecturer. You then become a reader/ associate professor and then professor. These steps can take you 25 or 30 years in some universities.

“But what does it take to become a senator? Finish your primary, secondary or first degree, then contest for a senatorial position. You may win or not win, but I have seen those who never held public offices become senators. But that can’t happen in any university position,” he noted.