According to the statistics released in 2022 by the National Universities Commission (NUC), over 100,000 academic staff members were attending to 2.1 million students in Nigerian universities, signifying a shortage of lecturers.
To this end, several higher institutions are turning to part-time lecturers as a cost-effective response to this pressure. Being a part-time lecturer in either private or public tertiary institutions can be profitable.
According to an online school, many have taken part-time teaching jobs because teaching is their passion and are now able to earn additional income while getting to do more of what they love.
There are numerous reasons why an individual might choose to have a part-time teaching job alongside their regular job. Some do this to share their knowledge and expertise with others, some to earn extra income, while others do it to pursue a career in teaching.
Part-time lecturing is not limited to one discipline. Even in the media industry, many full-time practitioners have taken to teaching as university lecturers.
A lecturer at Lagos State University Education(LASUED), Tope Bakare, said there are a lot of benefits to being a part-time lecturer. “You can explore other aspects of life, with the flexibility of time because you will be the one to determine the time for class and most importantly, it will also be additional streams of income to one’s full-time job or business.”
Public institutions and private institutions take part-time lecturers. However, earnings are higher for public institutions when compared to private ones. The reason is that you have more students in public tertiary institutions than in private ones. According to Bakare, lecturers are paid based on the number of unit courses they take.
Income
To Bakare, “ For instance, at the College of Education, lecturers earn between N23,500 and N25,000, for two unit courses at the end of an academic session. And in a case where you have a six-unit course or eight units course, so multiply N23,500 x 4 units which is N94,000. This also depends on the number of courses you can take.
“Also, if you can write a book, the next thing is for you to continue publishing because you have students to buy from you. You get money from marking examination scripts. When they allocate students to you to supervise their work, you also get paid for it.”
Requirement
If you want to become a part-time lecturer at the university, you must qualify with a first degree, preferably with a second-class upper or first class or/and a second degree with an excellent result.
If your degree is in education, you may want to get a postgraduate in education to have an edge, but this is not compulsory if you want to become a lecturer in Nigeria.
