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Why Keep This Transient Spirit in This Perishable Frame? – A Philosophical Enquiry into Being and Nothingness

“For what is man in nature? A nothing in comparison with the infinite, a whole in comparison with the nothing, a mean between nothing and everything.”  –   Blaise Pascal, Pensées What strange defiance is this: that the soul, knowing well its fragility, clings still to life? That we, bound in bodies destined to wither, fight against the pull of the abyss? What force keeps the trembling heart beating, even when sorrow presses against the ribs like an iron band? What makes a man, weary of toil and loss, rise again with the sun, unwilling to surrender? The question – Why keep this transient spirit in this perishable frame? – is not merely a philosophical riddle but a cry from the deepest chambers of the human condition. It is the plea of every suffering soul, the whispered anguish of the broken-hearted, the silent query of the lonely and the lost. It is the question asked in hospital rooms and warzones, in sleepless nights and moments of unbearable grief. It is the unuttered...

WHEN A CLEANER EARNS MORE THAN A PHD HOLDER: THE NIGERIAN EDUCATION SCAM

Introduction

In Nigeria today, it has become painfully evident that education no longer pays. The irony is loud and clear: a person who has laboured through the grueling academic ladder – first degree, Master’s, and PhD – often finds themselves poorer than someone who sweeps office floors in other African countries. Across Africa and beyond, janitors and cleaners are treated with greater financial dignity than Nigerian scholars.

This is not to smear the reputation of the janitors, or ridicule the honest cleaners; rather, it is to highlight the shameful undervaluing of academic excellence in Nigeria. When a PhD holder lives in debt, and a cleaner in South Africa, Kenya, or Ghana lives in dignity, something is tragically wrong with our system. It reveals, in the very depth, the misplacement of priorities in the country, and the endemic corruption that continues to perforate the socio-economic fabric of the Nigerian state.

 Table  1 and 2 below reveal frighteningly the disparities in salaries of Lecturer II PhD teachers across ten African countries, Nigeria inclusive, and the salaries of cleaners in these countries, compared with the salaries of Nigerian Lecturer II PhD teachers. 

Table 1: Monthly Salaries of PhD Lecturers in African Countries (Lecturer II)

Country

Monthly Salary (Local Currency)

Equivalent in NGN ()

Notes

South Africa

R15,689

1,875,000

Average lecturer salary

Morocco

MAD 13,000

1,800,000

Starting salary for PhD professors

Kenya

KSh 99,409 – 140,683

1,200,000

University of Nairobi lecturers

Ghana

GHS 3,500 – 10,600

1,000,000

Range for university lecturers

Egypt

EGP 12,000

900,000

Average lecturer salary in Cairo

Algeria

DZD 63,000 – 82,000

820,000

Entry-level PhD holder salary

Ethiopia

ETB 11,305

800,000

Lecturer salary in Addis Ababa

Nigeria

150,000 – 190,000

150,000 – 190,000

Lecturer II in Colleges of Education

 

Table 2: Monthly Salaries of Cleaners in Other Countries vs Nigerian PhD Lecturer II

Country

Cleaner Monthly Salary (Local Currency)

Equivalent in NGN (₦)

Reference

PhD Lecturer II (Nigeria)

South Africa

R6,500

₦778,000

Indeed South Africa

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Kenya

KSh 30,000

₦362,000

Payscale Kenya

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Ghana

GHS 2,000

₦350,000

MyWage Ghana

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Morocco

MAD 3,000

₦415,000

ERI Morocco

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Algeria

DZD 32,000

₦420,000

World Salaries Algeria

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Egypt

EGP 5,000

₦375,000

Glassdoor Egypt

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Ethiopia

ETB 5,500

₦390,000

MyWage Ethiopia

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Namibia

NAD 4,500

₦540,000

World Salaries Namibia

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Botswana

BWP 3,000

₦480,000

MyWage Botswana

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

Nigeria

₦35,000

₦35,000

MySalaryScale Nigeria

₦150,000 – ₦190,000

The Broken Dream: A PhD in Debt and Despair

Let us meet Dr. James Okoro – fictitious, but all too real. He’s a PhD holder lecturing at a federal College of Education in Nigeria. His monthly take-home pay is ₦187,000. Yet his basic expenses are:

  • Rent (urban area):          ₦13,000
  • Feeding (family of 4):    ₦80,000
  • Transport:                       ₦20,000
  • Electricity/Data:             ₦15,000
  • Children’s School Fees: ₦30,000
  • Emergencies/Health:      ₦30,000
  • Wears:                            ₦30,000

Total: 218,000
Deficit:
31,000

So how does he cope? Sadly, by turning on his students financially.

 When Hunger Breeds Corruption in the Academia

A lecturer who is underpaid becomes vulnerable. To survive, some lecturers begin to:

ü  demand money for grades.

ü  write research ventures for money.

ü  sell handouts or “compulsory” materials.

ü  neglect academic integrity, provided money is involved.

ü  exploit female students sexually or financially.

This is not because they are inherently corrupt – it is because the system sets them up to survive by any means necessary. And this spills into national corruption, because education is the foundation of values. If the classroom is compromised, the entire nation will rot from the roots.

 Wake Up, Nigeria!

When cleaners earn more than PhD holders, the message is loud and clear: education is a scam in Nigeria.

 Why should anyone invest years into academic pursuit, when pushing a mop in Morocco pays more? Why should a brilliant Nigerian scholar not relocate to Namibia, Kenya, or South Africa, where they will be respected – and compensated?

 Nigeria is at the risk of mass academic exodus, not just to Europe, but to other African countries.

 Education Is Sacred, But Nigeria Is Mocking It

If we continue on this path, the next generation will choose manual labour over mental labour, hustle over higher learning, and crime over curriculum.

 A country that punishes its thinkers and rewards mediocrity is a country already failed.

 Conclusion

Let the Nigerian government, policymakers, and society rethink their values. Reward intellectual labour. Pay our lecturers. Restore dignity to education, before the last candle of learning dies out. 

We can tweet in the social media, to save our lecturers and education system, thus: #EducationCrisis, #FixNigeriaNow, #SupportOurLecturers, #BrainDrainWarning, and so on!

 

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