The House of Representatives Committee on University Education has called on the Federal Government to urgently recruit more lecturers and non-academic staff to address the growing shortage of personnel in Nigeria’s universities.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata, made the appeal in a statement on Thursday, warning that the ongoing brain drain has left institutions overstretched and struggling to meet academic demands.
Fulata said many lecturers continue to resign or relocate due to poor salaries and working conditions. He urged the government to implement an immediate review of remuneration to stem the exodus.
He also criticised ministries, departments and agencies for what he described as undue interference in the operations of university governing councils, which he said undermines their autonomy and disrupts recruitment processes.
The chairman further appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend its planned strike, noting that another shutdown would deepen the sector’s crisis.
Fulata added that the committee recently concluded oversight visits to several universities, where it observed severe staffing gaps and challenging work environments.
