“While the existing practitioners in a given field may be adequately (or even excessively) rewarded for their performance level, there may nevertheless be a case to be made for raising salaries in a particular field, in order to attract a higher caliber of person, capable of a higher level of performance, than the current norm in that field. This argument might be made for school teachers, but it applies even more so to politicians and judges.”
—Thomas Sowell
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Hope rises for the Nigerian teachers. Hope is an eternal soothing balm that keeps life going even in the face of despondency. Life isn’t a quiet stream that continues endlessly. It has bends and turns and can even turn into cascades without expecting it.
That is just two sides of the same coin. And it is the same everywhere. Unpredictable!
For the Nigerian teachers, a life-changing reform is about unraveling courtesy of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu. Among other callings, the teaching profession and its practitioners are the most neglected and most undervalued. They are the unsung repository of knowledge, the storehouse of values, character-builders, who help to sharp the future of the society, but have to wait for their rewards in heaven. Alas, gone are the good old days, when teachers were held in such high esteem that they could rub their shoulders with the high and the mighty in the society because they had their special place in the scheme of things. In the town hall meetings, no major decision could be passed without the input of the teacher. Deep in knowledge, upright in character, diligent, and committed to hard work, they were the most valued treasure in society as well as inspiring role models for the upcoming generations.
What’s more! With the dramatic turn in societal value orientation and the reckless craving for sudden wealth, all of these virtues have gone into the wind. Teachers are now treated as a butt of derisive jokes so much that education as a course of study only remains the last choice for students seeking admission into the tertiary institutions.
Now, the good news is that the Federal Government has approved the sum of N75,000 as a stipend per semester for students undergoing degree programmes in Education in public universities in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Certificate in Education students are also to be paid a token of N50, 000 as a stipend per semester. These are parts of the reform initiatives of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to attract the best brains into the teaching profession.
The Minister of Education made this announcement on the heels of the World Teachers’ Day celebration held at Eagle Square, Abuja. The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, who delivered Adamu’s speech, said his ministry would collaborate with the state governments to ensure automatic employment for the students on graduation.
“Undergraduate students of B.Ed / B.A. Ed/ BSc. Ed in public institutions are to receive stipends of N75,000 per semester, while NCE students will get N50,000 as stipends per semester.
“Federal Government should find the modality through which respective states’ governments could provide automatic employment for NCE graduates at Basic Education level,” he said.
The measure is a follow-up to the mouth-watering incentives the ministry had earlier reeled out as a way of boosting the morale of those already in the profession to ensure better service delivery. These include, among others, improved allowances, housing, training as well as elongation of service years from 35 to 40.
According to the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, teachers will begin to enjoy the new salary structure promised by President Buhari from January 2022. He made the disclosure at a recent symposium organised by the ministry as part of the activities marking the 2021 World Teachers’ Day with the theme: ‘Teachers at the heart of education recovery’.
Echono, who equally stood in for Nwajiuba, said that effort was being made to conclude the enhanced salary structure.
“The president has taken the lead by approving a far-reaching and revitalising programme for the teaching profession in this country and there are many soft incentives in that.
“All that is required is for other actors down the line like state governors, the National Assembly, and others to key into this initiative and ensure that the implementation is seamless,” he added.
To be fair, teachers deserve good remuneration for their service. And there is a sense in which the welfare of the teacher is placed at the centre of the reform of the education sector. The revitalization of the teaching profession is a good starting point for quality assurance and effective service delivery.
But there is a snag in this noble objective: the dearth of statistical data for accurate analysis and implementation of the reform. From all indications, the Ministry of Education has conducted enough findings to know the exact number of undergraduates in education programmes currently enrolled in Federal Government-owned institutions, the projected available space that could absorb them upon graduation, and its financial implications.
All these are fundamental to the success or failure of the reform. And it is important for the planners to know that the institutional context within which polices are implemented is equally as important to their success or failure as the policies themselves.
Ironically, this reform initiative is coming at a time when the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) is warming up for another round of strike. If it is allowed to happen, whatever else is done to motive the teacher to shore up the quality of education in the country would be an effort in futility. As a wise saying goes, “when a fish is about to spoil, it starts to rot from the head.”
Obviously, the current dwindling standard of education did not start with poor remuneration for teachers at the lower level of the school system. Nigeria lost its global respectability and competitiveness among the comity of nations the day the ivory tower nosedived and the academic staff union adopted strike option as a means of resolving issues. And it has been the same narrative for decades.
Moving forward, therefore, the Ministry of Education, as an intellectual powerhouse that it is supposed to be, needs to wake up to its responsibility by taking a holistic view of the wrongs in the education sector and address them once and for all.
Since the inception of this administration, no demonstrable commitment has been made to turn around the fortune of education. At best, the policy reform of the government has remained a dream pipe. And this may not be unconnected with the seeming lackluster disposition of the leading figure in that ministry.
Among the current cabinet members of President Buhari, Adamu appears to be the most colourless and unassuming personality. Known for his Spartan lifestyle, he shares some common similarities with President Buhari in terms of slow response to issues of urgent importance. With varying degrees in accountancy and journalism, Adamu has the capacity to perform better than he has done in the ministry. Perhaps, his limiting factors could be age, the challenge of resourcefulness, or want of innovative ideas.
