THE IMMORTAL INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS

Being the Text of a Speech Presented by Governor Alex C. Otti, OFR, at the 2024 World Teachers’ Day on Saturday, October 5, 2024 at the Abia Teachers House, Umuahia

Protocols

1. It was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who likened a good teacher to a candle, “consuming itself to light the way for others.” These are true words that point to the important role teachers play in the lives of individuals and nations, moulding and shaping the character of others by the sheer force of their personal example, words and selflessness. Teachers become great role models in communities not because they are wealthy or politically connected, but for reasons of their sacrifices, wisdom and discipline. Teachers are clear proof that greatness comes by what you give, not what you accumulate for self.
2. As a society, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our teachers for their relentless labour of love and dedication to duty. We are indebted to them for spending their time working that children may grow to become functional adults, useful to their families and mankind at large. We are individually and collectively thankful to you, my dear friends and comrades, for inspiring and bringing out the best in us. You mentored and taught us the virtues of hard work, persistence and patience in difficult times. These qualities are in large part, responsible for the individuals many of us have become.
3. Let me on this note, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, welcome you to the 2024 World Teachers’ Day, a day set aside to appreciate the men and women who commit their lives to the vocation of teaching. Beyond appreciating the foundational role teachers play in the progress of our civilisation, today’s event also presents us a special opportunity to evaluate the progress of the teaching profession. We have also been called to be part of the conversation around creating a generally acceptable welfare standard for the teachers in our communities to insulate them from material wretchedness and the failings of destitutions.
4. I want to specially appreciate Abia teachers for not losing faith in the years they suffered untold neglect in the hands of those who managed our public resources before now. You were steadfast in your jobs, labouring on empty stomachs just to make sure that the future of our pupils and students is bright. Through your sacrifice and love for the children of Abia, our young ones were able to compete and hold their own in national exams.
5. Let me also congratulate you for the success of our students in the recently released 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO), where Abia outperformed 35 other states and the FCT to take the first position. This is no mean feat, especially after we declared war on all forms of exam malpractices leading to the closure of centres known for profiting from such. The result of the 2024 NECO SSCE proved that in Abia, we do not need to cheat to excel. The State is proud of our teachers and students for putting us on the map of excellence.
6. Our Administration understands the importance of education which explains why we prioritised it as one of the major pillars of our governance objectives. Recall that one of our first executive decisions was the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector wherein we announced plans to retrofit scores of primary and secondary schools across the 17 LGAs of the State.
7. It is important to recall that the present Administration wasted no time in introducing new incentives to attract quality minds to the teaching profession. As the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the State rightly noted, we have since increased the retirement age of teachers in the State to 65, or 40 years of service, subject to the health and willingness of the individual to remain in the field. The first gain of this initiative is that many who were forced to abandon the classrooms to jump onto the so-called “core civil service” on account of the discriminatory practices of the old order when it comes to payment of workers’ emoluments, have since reconsidered their position and reapplied to return to the classroom.
8. We have 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. By being firm in centralising the payment architecture, an age-old practice that impoverished teachers by staggering their payments has been effectively abolished. This is the first time in our history that teachers can say with certainty that their salary would come by or before the 28th of every month, and not for once in the last 16 months, have we disappointed. One assurance I can give is that as long as I am Governor of this state, regular payment of workers’ entitlements, especially teachers, will remain guaranteed: No excuses! No stories!
9. It may also interest you to know that we are currently developing a more attractive reward system for teachers in our public schools as part of our initiatives to incentivise the present crop of teachers and attract others who can add value to the system by the reason of their training and temperament. Recall that just recently, we retrained about 1,200 primary school teachers across the State to update their skills and prepare them for the reforms we are introducing into the public school system. By November, we shall turn attention to another batch drawn from the secondary schools.
10. I am also pleased to announce that we have made substantial progress on the schools remodelling projects happening in all the local government areas. The target is that before the end of the year, at least one hundred retrofitted schools will be ready for use ahead of the New Year. As you are aware, we are not just building blocks of classrooms, we are creating an ecosystem that supports teaching and learning, increases the curiosity of pupils and students and then offer spaces where they can read and find answers to their academic and moral questions.
11. The Government is already aware of the disturbing trend of vandalism of public property, including schools, by unscrupulous individuals. Currently, the Homeland Security Office is deploying security personnel to the most vulnerable schools to curtail the menace of criminals who vandalise public buildings for private gains, or reasons of rascality. We have also directed the traditional rulers and community leaders to be actively involved in securing public property in the domains. The State Government takes matters of security very seriously and will go the extra mile to protect our pupils, students, teachers and learning structures in rural and urban communities.
12. Our dream is to make the public school system in the State the best in the country in the areas of teacher quality, learning environment, safety, and quality of pupils and students. We have benchmarked ourselves against the best and shall not rest until our pupils and students are able to compete with their peers from other parts of the world. This for us is a lifetime journey and we shall strive to reach our destination because the world has become a very competitive space where only those who have equipped their people to compete can thrive.
13. Beyond what we are doing to revive the State’s public education system, we have also initiated the design and remodelling of the public libraries to restore our reading culture especially in the present age where the acquisition of information is a sine qua non in the race for progress. We are looking to create hybrid spaces where physical and electronic copies of books are readily available to users. Our investment in the public libraries is to encourage intensive and focused reading and research for our students, teachers and professionals in the academia. Every progress in our civilisation is tied to diligent research efforts and in line with our broad development agenda, we want to create a large population of researchers whose studies can attract global attention and create a holistic road map for development.
14. I have taken note of your body of requests and shall study them carefully with my team to make informed decisions. One thing you can go home with today is that we are a teacher-friendly administration and will do everything to support and equip you to do your job effectively. In return, we expect you to rededicate yourselves to duty and abide strictly by the highest ethical standards of the teaching profession. We shall not tolerate any act of extortion, truancy and abuse of your sacred privileges as teachers.
15. We understand the harsh economic reality of the times but you must not despair. The State Government is doing everything in its powers to cushion the effect of the difficulties our people are passing through. We are presently putting modalities in place to start the payment of the new minimum wage by the end of the month. As you are also aware, we have since started offsetting the backlog of salary arrears accumulated by previous governments. This is in addition to the payment of a 3-month wage award to our workers. Our charge to you is to remain optimistic and look to the future with courage and hope, knowing that we have a long history of thriving, especially in hard times.
16. Thank you for listening and may God bless you all.

Dr Alex C. Otti, OFR, 

5/10/2024