BENIN CITY — The University of Benin (UNIBEN) has announced plans to recruit a new batch of academic and non-academic staff, marking a major effort to rebuild its workforce following a 10-year hiring freeze.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Edoba Omoregie (SAN), confirmed the development, noting that over 400 new positions will be filled to address severe personnel shortages that developed over the past decade.
Speaking on the staffing crisis, Professor Omoregie clarified that while previous university management had cited a total federal embargo on employment, federal policy actually permitted replacements based on natural attrition, such as retirements or resignations. Because previous administrations failed to replace departing personnel between 2015 and recent years, the university’s workforce shrank drastically from approximately 8,000 staff members down to around 5,000. To bridge the gap, UNIBEN was forced to rely heavily on adjunct lecturers and assign non-academic staff to perform academic duties.
The current recruitment drive follows a successful employment exercise conducted by the university management that brought hundreds of new graduates into paid roles within the institution.
The administration calculated the current vacant roles meticulous to ensure both retiring staff and those who exited for other opportunities are replaced. Federal approvals have been secured to execute the exercise and restore the university’s operational and academic capacity.
Endorsing the initiative, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, stated that the ongoing recruitment drive aligns with the Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative.
He emphasized that addressing manpower deficits in public universities is essential to improving quality assurance, strengthening governance, and expanding access to high-quality tertiary education across the country.
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