News
FG Raises Alarm Over Massive Migration Of Teachers
The Federal Government has raised the alarm over the high number of teachers in the country leaving the nation’s teaching profession for other jobs.
The Minister of State for Education, Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, made this known during a visit to housemates of Teachers Naija Reality TV Show in Abuja, yesterday.
Nwajiuba, who described teaching as the base of human development, hailed the organisers of the Teachers Naija Reality TV Show, saying that the programme would attract more people to the teaching profession.
He said the number of housemates in the show, though small, still represented the divergent interest in the teaching profession.
He said, “This very minimum in terms of the percentage, when you look at the nearly 2.2million teachers in Nigeria. This is a really small representation of the variety of teachers we have but we think if we can encourage these persons to make the teaching profession look good; it will help us to attract better persons because we are also haemorrhaging teachers.
“We are losing teachers because as soon as they get an opportunity, they tend to take off and we want teachers to stay, because we are all products of teachers.”
While assuring Federal Government support for the TV Show to attract private sector sponsors, the minister said the government was handicapped in financially assisting the programme as it is outside the purview of the public sector.
He said the government has rolled out several policies to make the teaching profession attractive, including a mass housing scheme promised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added, “The plan for mass housing is still on, I am still pushing with all the state governors, we have written them, myself and NUT, we have gotten responses from Niger, we have got responses in Cross River.”
Speaking further, Nwajiuba said teachers would continue to reap their rewards both in earth and heaven.
“I have often told teachers repeatedly that the teachers’ reward is in heaven. What is here is their wages. There is a difference between wages and rewards.
“People miss us wages with reward. Teachers must be paid here in wages but teaching is not actually a profession, it is an impaction, a teacher is not limited to only the person in the classroom, a mother who takes you from sucking, and weaned you, take you to a diaper change, you can quantify that and no wages for that,” the minister said.
On his part, the Convener of the show, Enuagwuna Ubaka, expressed delight over the encouragement and feedback being received on the programme both at home and abroad.
He, however, called for more support and sponsorship to boost the reality TV show, saying several activities have been introduced to the show to attract more Nigerians.
“In this second edition, we have 20 housemates and the crew. We need more sponsorship, we are bringing a lot of variety to make more people engage in the show,” he said.
The second edition of Teachers Naija, kicked off on August 3 with 20 housemates.
The reality show, an initiative of Anub Media Limited, had its first season in 2019 where the winner, first and second runner-up went home with N1.5million, N1million, and N500,000, respectively.
This year’s season, the winner is expected to get a 2-bedroom flat in Abuja and go home with N2million, while the first and the second runner up will get N1.5million and N1million, respectively.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
-
Sports3 days ago
CAFCL : Rivers United Arrives DR Congo
-
Sports3 days ago
FIFA rankings: S’Eagles drop Position, remain sixth in Africa
-
Sports3 days ago
NPFL club name Iorfa new GM
-
Sports3 days ago
NNL abolishes playoffs for NPFL promotion
-
Sports3 days ago
Kwara Hopeful To Host Confed Cup in Ilorin
-
Sports3 days ago
NSF: Early preparations begin for 2026 National Sports Festival
-
Sports3 days ago
RSG Award Renovation Work At Yakubu Gowon Stadium
-
Politics3 days agoRivers Assembly Resumes Sitting After Six-Month Suspension