Kayode Fayemi has revealed that he earns N500,000 monthly as governor of Ekiti state, saying that most professors in Nigerian universities earn more than that and as such have fared better under the Buhari administration.
The governor was speaking against the backdrop of the current nationwide strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (Asuu).
Lecturers in government-owned universities kicked off the strike on 5 November, 2018, to press home their demands for improvement in the funding of public universities in Nigeria.
The union said that the federal government had failed to implement the 2009 agreement it entered into with lecturers and hence the strike.
Asuu is also protesting alleged federal government plans to introduce tuition and an education bank. But Fayemi said Asuu ought not to have gone on strike.
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Speaking to newsmen in Paris at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s interactive session with Nigerians living in France, the Ekiti governor said with competing demands for the national resources by the various sectors, Asuu cannot have everything it wants.
He said, "Asuu claimed that it is on strike because it wants improvement in the fortunes of education in Nigeria and that government has not lived up to expectations.
“I made bold to say that no government has done as much as this government has done. Not just for Asuu, but for tertiary education in our country.“Is it enough? Absolutely, it’s not going to be enough. We have to keep doing more.
“But ask yourself what was the average wage in the University system before. A university professor earns more than me as a governor. My salary as a governor is N500,000. Most university professors earn about the same amount if not more.
“Yes, you may argue that there are other opportunities available, there are also other opportunities that are available that are not being taken advantage of by our academics. I can say a little bit about this because this is my terrain.
“I do not think that Asuu on its own strength can argue that government has not done well. There is hardly any institution in Nigeria today, including states universities, that have not had the benefit of intervention.
“It is either the government is building an auditorium or rehabilitating a laboratory, or improving on students hostels in virtually all the universities as I speak to you. That’s what TETFUND does via their intervention funds. That again is not the complete solution.”
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