Why my administration prioritises education -Otti

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, says his administration is putting modalities in place for the commencement of payment of the new minimum wage by the end of this month.

Otti announced this on Saturday at an event marking the 2024 World Teachers Day with the theme “Valuing Teachers’ Voices: Towards A New Social Contract For Education.”

He said his administration understands the importance of education, which explains why it prioritised it.

He stated that the new minimum wage is in addition to the N15,000 wage award already being paid civil servants in the state in the past three months.

Otti said his administration declared a state of emergency in the education sector and introduced incentives, including an increase in the retirement age of teachers to 65 years and 40 years in service.

He said, “Our administration understands the importance of education, which explains why we prioritise it as one of the major pillars of our governance objectives.

“As the Chairman of NUT in the state said, we had since increased the retirement age of teachers in the state to 65 years or 40 years of service subject to health and willingness of individuals to remain in the field. We have also effectively banished all forms of discrimination in the payment of workers’ salaries and allowances.

“Today, teachers in primary and secondary schools across the state get their salaries at the same time their counterparts in the civil service are paid.”

Otti further pointed out that, as part of plans to make teaching more attractive, his administration has re-trained about 2,000 teachers in the primary sector, while teachers in the secondary sector will commence their retraining by November this year.

Otti announced that before the end of the year, 100 newly retrofitted public schools will be ready for use across the state, adding that he has directed the Office of Homeland Security to provide adequate security to public schools in the state for the safety of teachers, Students and facilities already in place.

According to him, he is committed to creating an ecosystem conducive to teaching and learning, adding that he will consider the student-teacher ratio in engaging more teachers in schools across the state.

Earlier in his remarks, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Goodluck Ubochi, while congratulating Abia teachers on this year’s event, said that the state government sees teachers as friends, role models, mentors, guides, builder and character moulders.

In his speech, the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Madu Chukwujekwu, said the theme of this year’s event recognises the critical role teachers play in the future of education, adding that the state government needs to empower teachers so they can take ownership of their profession, share their expertise, and drive innovation in education.