To Celebrate World Teachers’ Day, Atiku Calls for Improved Investment in Education

•Decries prolonged ASUU strike, non-payment of teachers’ salaries

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, joined the global community to celebrate World Teachers’ Day. Atiku called on governments at all levels to pay more attention to the management of the education sector in the country.

The former vice president spoke during the commissioning of the Security Health and Education (S.H.E) Initiative office in Abuja. He said it was regrettable that education was not getting the attention it deserved from all stakeholders.

The S.H.E Initiative is the brainchild of Atiku’s wife, Hajiya Titi Amina Abubakar.

Atiku stated that the poor management of the education sector, which was manifested in poor remuneration of teachers and the attendant prolonged industrial action by teachers, could not engender the kind of progress and development that the country desired.

He said, “With the increasing expansion of the poverty line across all age demographics, the smartest direction to go is to invest in education. When people are educated, it becomes a lot easier for them to create wealth and make personal decisions that will promote a good lifestyle for their families and the society.

“The current practice, whereby education takes the last rung of our investment priorities, is not only self-sabotaging, it is, indeed, a threat to national security.

“Most of the challenges that face us today in the name of security issues are concerns that started from illiteracy and later grew to economic disempowerment, which soon grew into national security concerns.”

Atiku said notwithstanding the poor working conditions of teachers in many states, they had continued to contribute their quota to nation building.

The Waziri of Adamawa reminded the gathering that as globally attested to, “No nation can grow higher than the quality of its education system and no education system can grow higher than the quality of its teachers.”

He said progress might continue to elude Nigeria unless there were trained and well-motivated teachers.

He described as unacceptable a situation where some states owed teachers’ salaries for months, noting that it is counterproductive for development initiatives.

Mrs. Abubakar noted that the S.H.E Initiative was born out of a genuine concern to reverse the ugly socio-economic realities in Nigeria that had pushed many people, especially, women to the receiving end of economic hardship.

“Through the vehicle of the S.H.E Initiative, Nigerian women will be setting the agenda to reverse the spiral decline in their socio-economic lives, as well as that of youth and people living with disabilities,” she said.