World Teachers’ Day: Celebrate Teachers, Not People Who Contribute To Nigeria’s Problems, Peter Obi Tells Tinubu Government

The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has charged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to revolutionise Nigeria’s education sector and return about 22 million out-of-school children across the country back to school.

He called on Tinubu’s government to celebrate teachers instead of celebrating people who contributed to the country’s problems.

Obi, who made the charge on Thursday in his message marking the 2023 World Teachers’ Day celebration, asked President Tinubu’s government to take the salaries of teachers in Nigeria seriously, ensure that they are paid as and when due, invest more in education and employ more teachers. 

According to Obi, the foundation of development of any society is human capital development and that can only be achieved through education and the immeasurable contribution of teachers.

He noted that the great rigour, hard work, patience, and dedication most teachers in different schools and institutions, especially at the basic level, put into their work to ensure that their students become the best in learning and character, deserve special acknowledgement and commendation. 

Obi, who is the former Governor of Anambra State in the Southeast region of Nigeria said, “I would like to celebrate all the teachers in Nigeria today, as the global community marks World Teachers Day. I celebrate them for their commitment to the task of nation-building. It is often said that the building of great nations begins in the classrooms.

“The foundation of the development of any society is human capital development which can only be achieved through education and the immeasurable contribution of teachers. So, there cannot be any true development in a society without the critical input of the educators who are our teachers.

“The great rigour, hard work, patience, and dedication most teachers in different schools and institutions, especially at the basic level, put into their work to ensure that their students can become the best in learning and character, deserve special acknowledgement and commendation.

“I have always celebrated teachers in Nigeria, whenever the opportunity comes. For example, Mr Akeem Badru, who won the 2023 Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Award. I have also maintained that the government should begin to celebrate Nigerian teachers who through hard work and dedication, have distinguished themselves in many ways, rather than celebrating individuals who contribute to the challenges facing us as a nation.

“The many feats we recorded in the education sector in Anambra State under my administration as the Governor would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication of the teachers in the State.

“We need to revolutionize education in the country by aggressively reducing the present 22 million out-of-school children and bringing them back to school. This we can achieve by making more investment in education and employing more teachers.

“I urge the government to take teachers’ salaries seriously and ensure that they are paid as and when due. At the basic education level, which is the most critical, governments should intervene in schools owned by private and voluntary agencies, and ensure that their teachers are paid as their counterparts in public schools.

“I encourage the teachers to remain resolute and patient despite the present hardship prevalent in the nation. We all look forward to better days, the dawn of the ‘New Nigeria’.”