By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
As Nigeria’s Teachers join the rest of the World to mark this year World Teachers’ Day, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has expressed deep concern over what it described as a worsening crisis in the nation’s education sector, citing an alarming shortage of qualified teachers and unfulfilled government promises.
The National President of the NUT, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, spoke at the 2025 World Teachers’ Day celebration held at the Eagle Square in Abuja, on Sunday.
He said available statistics from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) revealed a shortage of 194,876 teachers in public primary schools across the country.
According to him, it is alarming that Nigeria has a shortage of 194,876 teachers in public primary schools across the country adding that the situation in the secondary schools is not encouraging either.
This manpower crisis he said, has grave implications for the quality of education and learning outcomes in our schools.
He urged all tiers of government to address the teacher shortage decisively, warning that it undermines Nigeria’s commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on quality education for all.
The NUT president also lamented that, despite promises made since 2020 to improve teachers’ welfare, many of the incentives approved by the Federal Government remained unimplemented.
Amba further criticised the delay in implementing the 2024 National Minimum Wage for teachers, stating that as of today, ten states have not fully implemented the new minimum wage for teachers, while four have not implemented it at all.
The World Teachers’ Day, organised under the theme “Recasting Teaching As A Collaborative Profession”, will be followed by the presentation of awards to deserving state governors, presentation of trophies to best March Past, presentation of President’s Teachers and School Excellence Awards, amongst others.
