FORMER Governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has raised concerns over the quality of education in northern Nigeria, saying that no state in the region has up to 50 per cent of qualified teachers.
Aliyu stated this while speaking at the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue, themed “Food Security: Availability or Affordability,” held on Thursday at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja.
The former governor highlighted the need to improve teacher training and enhance educational standards in northern Nigeria.
He stressed the role of education in driving passion and progress, urging federal universities of agriculture and education to collaborate with farmers and other stakeholders to improve skills and knowledge.
“The second thing I am pursuing is education. In the northern states, there is no state with 50 per cent qualified teachers. Even those who are attending the schools now, let alone those who are not able to attend,” he said.
In December 2024, The ICIR reported how primary and secondary schools across Bauchi State lacked adequate and qualified teachers, with findings exposing the dire conditions in the schools and how the state government was looking the other way.
The report noted that the situation significantly impacted both the teachers, who experience burnout and diminished job satisfaction, and the students, whose educational foundation was compromised.
According to the report, schools with class sizes far exceeding recommended ratios are often managed by just one or two teachers, with many of them forced to merge classrooms or rotate lessons due to inadequate teachers.
Many schools relied on teachers without relevant qualifications to teach core subjects like Mathematics and English.
However, the Bauchi State Government responded to the investigation and approved the recruitment of 3,000 teachers.
Speaking further at the Daily Trust event on Thursday, the former governor criticised the closure of Nigeria’s borders.
He pointed out that despite the restrictions, Nigerian goods still dominated markets in neighbouring ECOWAS countries.
“What is the importance of closing borders? What is the importance of that while the population of Nigeria is almost the population of other ECOWAS members? And every market you go to in ECOWAS countries you will discover that more than half of the things in that market are from Nigeria.
“For example, in Niger, the cow is still cheaper than in Nigeria. Apart from the inflation, it has always been like that because we used to send people there on good days to get these cows either for slaughter or Sallah. Why is this so? Please, do what you have to do. Do also the education,” he said.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M
The report is concise but could have included the number, percentage qualified and teacher deficit state by state. Current data is available from UBEC.