By Joy Ezeilo
I am dreaming of watching AFCON 2024 live, and I enquired about flights to Abidjan to watch our Super Eagles play in the finals. I believed that Ivory Coast being so close (an hour and 35 minutes) wouldn’t cost me too much.
However, my travel agent of over twenty years sent me a price quotation of N2,183,000.00 (two million, one hundred and eighty-three thousand Naira), which was a huge shock. I did the math and realised I would need to save my five months’ salary as a Professor of Law on the last professional step to buy one return ticket to a West African country.
This is a sad reflection of our current economic realities. Please refrain from attempting to convert to US dollars – it’s extremely depressing and demystifying of a full professor position.
This will push the resolve of brilliant young ones we’re training and mentoring to take over from us farther away from the classrooms to becoming political aspirants/election delegates.
My alternative plan is to cut down on expenses. I have recharged my DSTV for N19,800, and I plan to buy twenty litres of fuel to generate power because we didn’t have electricity during the Semifinals. The match is a must-watch for me as it will be a breath of fresh air and a chance for me to forget about Nigeria’s many woes.
I want to make a public notice for those asking for help that I have been posting that we haven’t been paid. Kindly note that my salary, which I received yesterday, has been mortgaged in arrears. Please be patient, and let’s hope we get the 8-month arrears from the ASUU strike or that NLC and FGN reach a new deal that will increase my wage.
The struggle continues!
Good luck to our Super Eagles! You’re in my thoughts and prayers!
Joy Ezeilo, a professor of public law and a six-year United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking of persons in Africa, was formerly Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) Enugu Campus.
