The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Audu Titus Amba, has warned that poor funding, insecurity, inadequate infrastructure and worsening teacher welfare are threatening Nigeria’s education system and could undermine national development.
Amba spoke in Enugu on Tuesday while addressing the 59th (8th Quadrennial) National Conference of Delegates of the NUT, held from September 28 to 30, 2026.
The conference, themed, “Deployment of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Will Erode the Place of Teachers in the Classroom: A Myth or Reality?”, brought together NUT delegates from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, government officials, labour leaders and other education stakeholders.
Amba said the conference provided an opportunity to assess the union’s progress over the past four years, review challenges facing teachers and chart a new course for the education sector.
“Education across the globe has been a catalyst of national development. It is key to laying the foundation for sustainable economic growth and development of a nation,” he said.
He identified poor remuneration and welfare, teacher shortages, deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate instructional materials, poor professional development, underfunding, insecurity and attacks on schools among the major challenges facing the sector.
He also cited poor implementation of education policies and inadequate digital learning resources.
Amba called on the federal and state governments to increase their budgetary allocations to education, saying inadequate funding had contributed to poor infrastructure, insufficient teaching materials and limited investment in teachers.
He said federal allocations to education had remained below the internationally recommended 15 to 20 per cent of national budgets, while some states had failed to access counterpart funds available through the Universal Basic Education Commission.
“We, here again, call on governments at both national and subnational levels to increase their budgetary allocations to education in line with theinternationally recommended benchmarks and invest more in teachers, who constitute the single most important factor in achieving quality education,” he said.
Teachers, Students Unsafe
Amba also raised concerns over insecurity in schools, recalling that the NUT devoted its 2022 National Delegates Conference in Ibadan to the theme, “Terrorism and Attack on Schools.”
He said teachers and learners had been killed, abducted and attacked, while schools had become increasingly vulnerable.
“Many of our teachers have been shot dead, beheaded or held in captivity in their lines of duty,” he said
He urged governments to strengthen security around schools and fully implement safe-school initiatives.
“No nation can build a prosperous future when its teachers and learners are unsafe, and its education sector is under attack,” Amba said.
The NUT president also renewed the union’s demand for implementation of welfare measures approved for teachers by the Federal Government in 2020.
The measures, he said, include a special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools, bursaries for education students, a special teachers’ pension scheme and a career path for the profession.
Others include low-cost housing for teachers in rural areas, loans for agriculture, housing, cars and motorcycles, as well as free tuition and automatic admission for teachers’ biological children.
Amba urged the federal and state governments to implement the measures, saying they would improve teachers’ welfare and make the profession more attractive to qualified young Nigerians.
He also commended the Federal Government for enacting the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022, which provides for teachers to retire at 65 or after 40 years of service, whichever comes first.
However, he said some states and the FCT had introduced additional guidelines which the union believes conflict with the law.
“Teachers must be allowed to retire with dignity and at the age prescribed by law,” he said.
NUT Opposes King’s College Concession
The union also opposed the reported concession of King’s College, Lagos, to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association under a public-private partnership arrangement.
Amba said while the NUT recognised the contributions of old students and other stakeholders to schools, it opposed transferring the management and operational responsibilities of a public school to a private association.
He maintained that education remained a public responsibility and fundamental right.
“Education is a public responsibility and a fundamental right, not a commercial privilege,” he said.
Amba called for the suspension and reversal of the concession and urged the Federal Ministry of Education to consult teachers, parents and other stakeholders before taking such decisions.