Dogara hails sacrifices of Nigerian teachers

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara has hailed Nigerian teachers for their service to the development of the Nigerian child, calling for opportunities of continuous training and retraining, improved remuneration and provision of requisite infrastructure and facilities for them to impart knowledge on students in line with global standards.

In a press statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan, to mark 2017 World Teachers Day with the theme, ‘Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers’, the Speaker stressed that empowerment of teachers remains a top priority in all education and development strategies.

He also advocated for security of the lives of teachers, expressing delight, for instance, that security in the North East had improved significantly which enabled teachers to resume work however, called on security agencies to provide adequate protection to all schools in the region.

He, further, implored security agencies to step up security in schools to end the harrowing incidents of kidnappings of teachers and students.

“Teachers are the most important people in the development of any individual and by implication the society this confers a priority status on them which, sadly, has not reflected in their conditions of service or living standards.

“It is, therefore, important that proper training, remuneration and provision of requisite infrastructure and facilities for teachers to impart knowledge on students in line with global standards are provided. Their salaries and allowances must be paid when and as due to encourage them to continue to put in their best in this all-important task that they carry out. This will engender improvement in the education sector of Nigeria and produce better-trained teachers, as well as finely baked graduates.

“Security of our schools remain a priority. Thanks to the determination of the present administration and the bravery of our military troops, students and teachers in the North East can now go to schools freely in most areas.”

“On our part, the House of Representatives will continue to pursue all measures that will promote the development, empowerment and security of the Nigerian teacher.

This is evident in our timely response to issues between our teachers and the government that threatened to clog the wheel of progress of the education sector including increasing their retirement age from 60 to 65 years as requested by leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers when they visited me a few months ago.

The Speaker who had his post-primary training  as a Grade II teacher said the House of Representatives will not relent in supporting legislative measures aimed at improving our education sector, including the welfare of teachers, to take it to a point where it can compete favourably with its global counterparts.”