NLC Urges Government to Increase Investment in Education

Nigeria’s leading labour union has called on the Federal Government to increase funding for education and improve the welfare of teachers, warning that continued neglect of the sector poses a grave risk to the nation’s future.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, made the appeal during the 2025 World Teachers’ Day celebration in Abuja. He lamented that despite their vital role in shaping society, teachers remain among the most underpaid and undervalued professionals.

“The paradox is glaring: while society praises teachers, they remain the most neglected and deprived profession. They are celebrated in words but abandoned in reality,” Ajaero stated.

He urged the government to meet the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) benchmark, which recommends allocating at least six percent of a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 20 percent of public spending to education. Nigeria’s current allocation, he said, falls far short of this standard, worsening the shortage of qualified teachers and inflating the student–teacher ratio.

Ajaero also condemned the poor treatment of teachers in private schools, many of whom, he said, are denied fair wages, basic rights, and social protection. He called on the Ministers of Labour and Education to enforce teachers’ rights to unionize in accordance with Nigeria’s Constitution and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98.

He warned that failure to address poor working conditions could deepen the ongoing brain drain in the education sector, with teachers leaving for better opportunities abroad or in other industries.

“You cannot give what you do not have. Teachers who are not properly trained, motivated, and supported cannot deliver quality education. If this continues, the future of our children—and our nation—is at risk,” Ajaero cautioned.

He further called for a national framework to retrain unqualified teachers, strengthen professional development, and reduce Nigeria’s high pupil-to-teacher ratios, which exceed global standards.

World Teachers’ Day 2025 was marked under the theme, “The Teachers We Need for the Education We Want: The Global Imperative to Reverse Teacher Shortages,” a message Ajaero described as especially relevant to Nigeria’s current realities.