April 8, 2015 – Vice President-Elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo today said that the All Progressive Congress(APC) led government guarantees free and continuous tertiary education for teachers once it takes control of government come May 29, 2015.
Osinbajo who was speaking at a consultative meeting with members of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Lagos said continuous education for teachers is one of the core programmes of APC.
Osinbajo who was elected alongside General Muhammadu Buhari noted that education and health would receive priority in the administration.
“If you look at our manifesto, we would spend a lot of time and money on public education that is why this consultation is very important but it is just the beginning of the series of consultations that we intend to have. Fortunately, I am from here, I am one of you and this means there will be direct access which will make it easier for us to do all we want to do.
“Lagos is the mode of what we intend to do. For instance, we talk about free education for science, technology, engineering and maths and free education at the tertiary level for teachers. So teachers who want to go to university will enjoy free education.
“It is a very important programme because one of the basic problems we have is the fact that we have not been able to continue effectively with teacher training. So, continuous education for teachers and teacher training in particular is very important to us. It is important for us in Lagos to know that we are a very important part of what the Federal Government will do in education”, he said.
Osinbajo added that as part of efforts to improve welfare of teachers and other workers in critical sectors, the Federal Government would be embarking on housing scheme nationwide.
“Many have talked about the welfare of teachers which is very important, but this is always tied to funding just as welfare of other workers. But, one of the crucial things we want to do is housing.
“I think we need to be able to work together with the Federal Government on the issue of housing for teachers. We have a big housing policy but our housing policy is going to be based on first and foremost on those in the critical sector of the economy and teachers have been identified as one of those in the critical sector for housing.
“I want us to be extremely well positioned for it. We need to understand that four years is a very short time and we need to be very organised to take advantage of it.”
