Enugu: Lecturers Embrace Farming Amid Hardship, Ban On Sale Of Handouts

No fewer than fifteen senior lecturers of various universities have indicated their interest in embarking on active plantation of crops in the forthcoming farming season.

According to them, their current salaries are no longer realistic considering Nigeria’s rising cost of living. It was also gathered that landowners are willing to give genuine ones spaces to farm.

One of them is a professor at the Soil Science Department of the University of Nigeria. He told THE WHISTLER with an appeal not to mention his name that, “At times some situations can be a hard lesson. I asked myself why, as a soil scientist, I hadn’t utilise my knowledge in the farm, except in classrooms. Farmers consult me to ascertain the suitability of their soil for farming. The current Nigeria’s situation has forced me to go into farming.”

Another lecturer, popularly called Guru, lecturing at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, said, “I’ll start gradually. I don’t have land in Enugu, but I can comfortably begin with ‘bagging’ method. We have regular water supply, so I can easily plant yam tubers in bags and nurture them behind my apartment. I live in an apartment with a large space. I will not find it difficult to grow my crops. At least, I can be sufficient in cultivating vegetables in the midst of the yam.”

On the availability of land for farming, a lecturer in the Department of Accounting, ESUT, Dr Chukwu, said, “I don’t want to sound pessimistic. I have friends in the neighbourhood. One of them said even if I needed a hectare of land, he would give me. So it is time to go into farming.

“The truth is that salaries can no longer sustain us. Even with a professor’s about N400, 000 monthly pay, one can’t cope with the high cost of living. This is the right time to think outside the box.”

It was gathered that the ban on sales of handouts and the checks on lecturers from imposing their textbooks on students overstretch their incomes.

Investigations by THE WHISTLER showed that lecturers that seem comfortable under the current economic situation are those that have other things doing, aside teaching.

“Some lecturers have other ventures,” says Mr Tochukwu Uguru, a non-academic staff member of UNN. He continues, “Some of them that are professionals feel better. I know a veterinary doctor, a lecturer, that has a private animal clinic. He also rears goats and birds. What he earns from animal manue yearly is unbelievable.

“I know others that established private businesses for their wives. They are the ones that don’t complain much. I think the present economic realities have come with lessons.”