The management of Abia State University, Uturu, has suspended a lecturer, Professor Nnamdi Nwaeze of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, over a Facebook post in which he claimed that professors at the institution earn less than N400,000 a month, while commercial tricycle operators earn more.
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The suspension was announced in a statement on Thursday by the university’s spokesman and Deputy Registrar, Chijioke Nwogu.
Nwogu said the post “is inimical to the interests of the university and uncomplimentary to the visitors of the university.” The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, is the visitor to the institution.
He said management has constituted an investigative panel to probe the matter. “The suspension takes immediate effect pending the outcome of the investigation by the panel,” he said.
The post was made against the backdrop of an industrial action declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the institution over unremitted deductions and unpaid allowances.
Nwaeze said he was familiar with the issues that led to the strike but had chosen not to raise them, to avoid being labelled an “enemy of the state” or dismissed over a “political statement.” He said lecturers at the university receive the poorest remuneration and are the least paid among Nigerian universities.
He claimed that staff are still being paid under the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government salary structure rather than the 2024 structure, and that the December 2025 structure has not been implemented at the university. On that basis he stated that professors there earn less than N400,000 monthly, while commercial tricyclists earn over N450,000.
He put a series of comparisons to readers. “Are you aware that professors in all the federal and most state universities now earn between N1.3m to N1.4m as against what is obtainable in ABSU?” he asked.
He continued: “In this same Abia State, a local government councillor who may not have an ordinary WAEC level certificate allegedly earns about N600,000 monthly. A House of Assembly member earns about N8 million net salary in Abia State. Most appointees of this government can pay the salary of a professor and still have enough to take care of their families and personal needs.”
Nwaeze graduated from the Department of Economics at the same university between 1999 and 2003, and built a career at First City Monument Bank, where he rose to Retail Cluster Head for the Port Harcourt zone. Colleagues in banking are said to have nicknamed him “Prof” for his analytical turn of mind. He resigned from banking to return to his alma mater as a lecturer, and rose to become a full Professor of Development Economics.
The Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress condemned the suspension, describing it as an example of intolerance by a government that claims to uphold democratic principles.
The party’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Eric Ikwuagwu, set out its position in a statement titled “Professor Nnamdi Nwaeze is the hero of Abia democracy.”
Ikwuagwu argued that academics have historically played important roles in the country’s struggle against authoritarian rule, citing the 1994 strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which he linked to opposition to military dictatorship and to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
“During the military regime, academics and other intellectuals openly participated in Nigeria’s broader pro-democracy struggles. ASUU was a major part of the resistance against military authoritarianism, and even the maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha, tolerated it,” he said.
He said it was therefore troubling that a lecturer could be suspended in a democratic era for what the university termed uncomplimentary remarks.
The party argued that the post was not an attack on the university but an attempt to draw attention to the position of academic staff.
“The ‘uncomplimentary remarks’ was simply speaking up against the continued use of the 2009 salary structure to pay them in 2026, while using the 2025 deductions to slash their salaries. He also stated that professors like him are paid less than N400,000 monthly salary,” the statement said.
Ikwuagwu said the position would be different had the lecturer been suspended for making false claims, but that suspending him for speaking publicly about his concerns amounted to an attempt to suppress legitimate criticism. He described the suspension as callous and urged the authorities to reconsider.
The suspension has drawn reactions within and beyond the university community, with human rights advocates criticising it as an attack on free expression and academic freedom, and calling for the lecturer’s reinstatement.
The controversy has also renewed attention on the salaries and working conditions of academic staff in Nigerian universities, and on the limits of freedom of expression for lecturers commenting publicly on the affairs of their institutions.
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