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Ministry Develops new National Teacher Education Policy – Minister

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 The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, said the ministry has developed a New National Teacher Education Policy (NNTEP) to address critical issues such as career pathways, remunerations and teaching standards.

Sununu said this at a two-day 2024 online Conference of Registered Teachers organised by Teachers Registered Council of Nigeria (TRCN) on Wednesday in Kaduna.

The theme of the conference is: “Advancing Teacher Professionalisation in Nigeria Towards Education 2030: Challenges, Strategies and Prospects”.

The conference was supported by UNESCO, Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE), UKaid, Safe the Children International (SCI), TY Danjuma Foundation and DRPC.

Sununu said teachers needed professional preparations through adequate and informed exposure to training, conferences and seminars.

“This will increase awareness and new commitment for effective teaching that will match international best practices.

“The Federal Ministry of Education is making progressive efforts to ensure quality and functional education in Nigeria and restore the dignity of the teaching profession.

“Over 7,200 education bursary awards have been offered to students to study education courses.

“The education ministry’s DOTS policy will ensure that the nation’s educational system is equiped to produce competent and globally ready citizens,” he said.

Sununu also said the DOTS policy was packaged to achieve the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

He said the ministry’s  responsibility did not end in recruiting teachers and providing classrooms for teaching and learning.

Sununu said they ensured teachers training and re-training to help achieve major objectives of the nation’s educational system.

He said that this was  to equip learners with requisite knowledge and skills to enable and realise their potential and become globally competitive.

The minister also said the conference was apt in the ministry’s collective efforts to reposition the teaching profession toward achieving sustainable development goal (4) and Education 2030 Agenda.

He emphasised that national conferences were critical to all professional bodies which was a symbol of professionalism where people with great ideas rub minds to improve their profession.

Sununu commended TRCN for the milestone it had achieved by institutionalising the online annual conference for registered teachers in a digital era.

He called on all the stakeholders to work assiduously to ensure an enviable and enduring education sector that was imperative for national growth and development.

Also speaking to newsmen on the sideline, the State Coordinator of TRCN, Ms Esther Ayuba, said certification and licencing were major ingredients for the teaching profession.

She said every trained teacher was supposed to obtain a certificate and licence before being allowed to teach.

According to her, a trained, registered and licenced teacher is the most qualified to teach, believing that they can maintain the professional knowledge, skills, values and ethics that binds the teaching profession.

She lamented that many trained teachers were yet to register with the council.

Ayuba, however, said sensitisation by the council had gone far while enforcement was taking place to ensure that only registered teachers were allowed to teach.

“A lot of them have registered now, but have yet to receive their certificates because of the procedures.

”Every trained teacher in Nigeria, whether he/she is teaching or not, must register with the council.

“For professional pride, every teacher should register,”she said.

Describing teaching as the mother of all professions, Ayuba called on the government at all levels to encourage teachers with better welfare and remunerations as obtainable in other countries.

She said at the end of the conference, it was expected that the teachers would be proactive in their areas of specialisation.

This is by knowing that they were professionals and utilised their rights to make an impact and change the narrative in the society.

Earlier, Dr Stella-Maria Nwokeocha, the Registrar of TRCN, said a teacher was an important factor that could not be over-emphasised in the development of education.

She said Nigeria shared in the global concerns of teachers and teaching progression as raised in the global report on teachers by UNESCO on teachers/education 2030.

Nwokeocha explained that the report provided meaningful findings regarding teachers recruitment, retention and professional development.

She also recalled the interest of the AU Commission through its continental education strategy for Africa since 2016 to 2025.

”This is to ensure quality education system and training that would meet the efficient human resources need of the African continent and its core values,” Nwokeocha said.

She. therefore. said, it called for continuous dialogue, workshops, training and conferences such as the annual conference on registered teachers in Nigeria.

The TRCN boss said that the dialogues were aimed at providing necessary supports and encouragement needed to reposition the teaching profession to attain quality education and national building.

She equally said the annual conference was part of the TRCN’s efforts to fulfill its mandate of professionalisation of teachers in Nigeria.

Nwokeocha added that the central focus of the conference was to deliberate and proffer solutions to emerging issues in education and learning in Nigeria and improving teaching outcome.

Some of the participants, Mercy Andrew, a teacher at LGEA Narayi Primary School and Mr David Kunanza, said they were faced with overcrowded learners per classroom and other unfavorable teaching conditions

The duo also said employment of non professionals as teachers has negative consequences on children who end up not learning.

They called on TRCN to push further their plights to the appropriate authorities for actions.

Report says that teachers who participated in the conference attracted 25 professional credit points. 

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Yuletide: Bode George Urges Tinubu to Reduce Petrol Price

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Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol   to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.

George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.

The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.

According to the elder statesman,Nigerians  are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.

He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.

The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are  special months , said that such gesture could start from the  middle of December and run through January.

“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.

“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.

“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.

“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.

“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.

“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.

“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.

Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .

He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness  in order to create a better future for Nigerians

Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system  needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.

According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates  to emerge.

Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of  religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.

“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is  heard in elections.

“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.

Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.

“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.

George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.

George disagreed with political watchers saying no  vacancy in  presidency in 2027.

On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for  party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.

He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.

“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves  up. ” he said.

Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the  party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.

Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)

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Tinubu Set for Groundbreaking of Renewed Hope City in Lagos 

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President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the  groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.

Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos

Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.

“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.

Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.

He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.

Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.

Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)

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Gov. Alia Presents N550.1bn as 2025 Budget Estimate to Benue Assembly 

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Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.

7 billion is for capital expenditure.

The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.

5  per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.

He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.

Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.

4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.

According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.

“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.

“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.

“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.

The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.

He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.

“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.

“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.

Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.

He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)

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