Primary teachers should earn N250,000 salary, secondary N500,000, lecturers N1m monthly – Reps

Abubakar Fulata, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on University Education, has advocated for an increase in the salaries of primary, secondary, and university teachers. He proposed monthly remunerations of N250,000, N500,000, and N1 million, respectively, for these educators.

Mr. Fulata made this recommendation during a One-Day National Stakeholders’ Workshop on the Development of a Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector (2023-2027) held in Abuja on Thursday. He stressed the importance of motivating Nigerian teachers by providing them with adequate compensation, aiming to encourage them to educate the nation’s children effectively.

Additionally, Mr. Fulata emphasized the need to translate all subject textbooks into local languages to align with global practices. He pointed out that efforts by previous administrations to revitalize the country’s education sector had yielded limited progress.

He highlighted the necessity of teaching children in their local languages, suggesting that subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and others should have textbooks available in local languages. This approach, he argued, is essential for Nigeria to catch up with the rest of the world.

Mr. Fulata also urged the government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector and allocate at least 25% to 30% of the national budget to education.

In response, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, acknowledged that while the ministry had promising policies, they were not effectively meeting the needs of the people. He stressed the importance of implementing a roadmap that would lead to meaningful development in the education sector, with a focus on graduate employability.

The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, emphasized the need for gender mainstreaming in the roadmap to create a balanced education system, ensuring that educated individuals have better opportunities for fulfilling lives. He called for a transformation in the education sector to align with the realities of the day.

The workshop aimed to develop policies and strategies to improve the Nigerian education sector, focusing on implementation within specified timeframes to deliver tangible benefits to the nation and its people. The ministers pledged to engage with state governments to move the sector forward effectively.