Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities says the crisis facing the country’s higher education system has deepened as lecturers enter a fifteenth year without meaningful wage review. The union’s Benin Zone rejected the Federal Government’s latest salary proposal, warning that continued pay stagnation is accelerating brain drain across public universities and eroding academic standards.

According to ASUU officials, the proposed adjustment fails to reflect inflation, currency depreciation or the rising cost of living, leaving lecturers “worse off than at any point in recent memory.” The union argues that the real value of academic salaries has collapsed over the past decade, pushing experienced researchers toward better-funded institutions abroad and undermining Nigeria’s long-term capacity for innovation and scholarship.

The warning comes as public universities continue to experience staff shortages, funding gaps and stalled infrastructure projects. ASUU insists that without a comprehensive agreement addressing wages, welfare, working conditions and revitalisation commitments, the sector will face deeper instability. The union says it remains open to negotiations but stressed that superficial increments will not reverse the growing exodus of academic talent.