UK-Based Researcher Champions Teachers’ Welfare and Learning Facilities in Nigeria

A United Kingdom-based Nigerian scholar, Dr. Obinna Ogbonnia, has called for an urgent national commitment to prioritising teachers’ welfare and significantly improving the quality of learning facilities across Nigeria’s basic schools and universities. The researcher stressed that investing in teachers is the single best strategy for achieving standardisation in the nation’s fragile educational system.

Dependable NG reports that Dr. Ogbonnia, a lecturer at Swansea University, United Kingdom, made these remarks during a weekend training programme in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, tagged ‘Ebonyi Teachers First’. He expressed deep concern that Nigerian teachers currently lack the empowerment and adequate training essential for career advancement and professional growth.

The Critical Need for Teachers’ Basic Welfare
The core of Dr. Ogbonnia’s argument centred on ensuring that teachers have their fundamental needs met, positioning them as the “drivers and the brain box of the society.”

“Teachers need some of these basic needs to enhance career and teaching. Such needs include food, clothing and shelter,” the researcher stated, pointedly asking, “How many teachers across states can boast of having a house or land property?”

Demonstrating his commitment to the cause, Dr. Ogbonnia personally gave out N1 million as a gift to Mrs. Alice Awaza, the oldest teacher in attendance at the event. Mrs. Awaza, who teaches at Ohofia Community Primary School, Ukawu, Onicha local government area of Ebonyi, has served the public education system for an impressive 32 years, having started her career in 1992. Additionally, nine other teachers from various primary and secondary schools received Hp laptops to support their teaching and enhance technological integration in their classrooms.

ICT Integration and Improved Conditions of Service
Other prominent academics at the event echoed Dr. Ogbonnia’s sentiments, highlighting other critical areas for reform:

Better Conditions of Service: Prof. Daniel Nwibo, Provost of the College of Health Science at Ebonyi State University (EBSU), asserted that teachers, whom he described as the “builders” of society, deserve a much better condition of service, not just in Ebonyi State but across the entire nation.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Prof. Godwin Onu, a lecturer in the Political Science Department at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra, spoke on the necessity of addressing the challenges of ICT in teaching processes. Prof. Onu noted that ICT could simplify teaching and learning, granting students easier access to global knowledge and updates. He urged the government to “enhance teachers’ capacity through ICT” to enable them to meet the global trend in teaching and learning.

One participant, a teacher named Awaza, expressed gratitude to the organisers for the training and further appealed for more advanced training opportunities to be extended to teachers in rural communities.