The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has dropped a bombshell that no fewer than 239 first-class graduates employed as lecturers by the institution between 2015 and 2022 left the job within seven years, blaming poor remuneration, unacceptable working condition, and lack of motivation.
Prof. Ogundipe, who is now the Pro-Chancellor of the Redeemer’s University, Osun State, made the revelation on Tuesday while delivering a lecture at The PUNCH Forum entitled: “Innovative Funding of Functional Education in the Digital Age” at The PUNCH Place, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
To him, UNILAG employed 256 first-class graduates as instructors in the seven years but only 17 were still in the employ of the institution as of October 2023.
“We chose at UNILAG to employ people with first-class honours. But up to October 2023, fewer than 10 per cent were still here. In 2015, we employed 86; in 2016, 82; during my tenure (2017–2022), we employed 88. Altogether, 256. Only 17 were still with us up to October 2023. The rest had left,” he added.
Brain Drain in Universities
Ogundipe lamented that the large-scale migration of top-performing graduates was representative of the overall Nigeria education crisis, and that unless efforts were concerted, universities in the next decade risk becoming female-dominant institutions, while poorly prepared applicants may make their way into postgraduate studies as the level falls.
He further stated that continuously poor funding, poor remunerations, and inadequate infrastructures were pushing young lecturers out of the system.
“The majority of our colleagues, especially the young ones, are drained. After reaching home, there is no electricity. The Federal Government says they are providing us with N10 million to access as loans can I use N10 million to build a security outpost? This is the worth our lives have been reduced to,” he went on.
Funding Deficit and Its Implications
The former VC noted that Nigeria’s education system has been deprived of years of budgetary allocation, and financial supply to the sector has consistently fallen short of the UNESCO-recommended 15–26 per cent of national budgets.
“Between 2015 and 2025, allocations were between 4.5 and 7.5 per cent. The message is clear: Nigeria has a record number of out-of-school children in the world, between 10 to 22 million. Over 60 per cent of what is spent on primary education is paid out in wages, with little left over for research, innovation, or infrastructure,” he asserted.
Call for Innovative Funding
Ogundipe promoted radical reforms and innovative financing options beyond government budgets, including public-private partnerships, alumni endowments, education bonds, debt swaps, diaspora contributions, and philanthropy.
“The private sector must see education not just as corporate social responsibility but as enlightened self-interest in shaping tomorrow’s workers and markets,” he stressed.
He also encouraged graduates to return their support to their institutions in terms of donation, mentorship, and lobbying, and called on civil society, the press, and religious groups to push government and campaign for grassroots education reform.
Donor agencies from abroad, he added, should cooperate with Nigerian universities, but stakeholders at home have to be responsible for sustainable funding models.
“Most importantly, to all Nigerians, let us consider education as the most sacred trust that we have to bequeath to our children. Our names must be found in the libraries, cyber labs, scholarships, and in lives changed,” Ogundipe continued.
