Eighteen states of the federation have failed to recruit teachers in five years, data exclusively obtained by our correspondent from the National Union of Teachers in Abuja has revealed.

This comes amidst the outcry over the shortage of teachers across the country.

Recently, the Universal Basic Education Commission lamented the shortage of teachers in public schools.

Sunday PUNCH reports that over 47 million pupils are currently enrolled in 171,027 private and public primary and junior secondary schools in the country. UBEC puts the total number of public schools at 79,775, while private schools currently stand at 91,252.

Regarding teachers, the commission stated that 354,651 teachers were currently teaching in early childhood facilities, while 915,593 were employed in primary schools, and 416,291 working in junior secondary schools.

Similarly, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria recently raised concerns over what it described as the shortage of qualified teachers in the country. It said the shortage was more pronounced in rural areas, exacerbating educational inequality.

The Registrar of TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, disclosed this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH.

Ajiboye said, “The surge in the population of school children, and the increase in the number of schools in Nigeria, both government and private, present a complex challenge for the education system.

“The availability and quality of qualified teachers are crucial factors in ensuring students receive quality education. However, the shortage of qualified teachers is a concerning issue in Nigeria for several reasons.”

 He explained that with a growing population of school children and insufficient recruitment of new teachers, the teacher-pupil ratio in many schools had become unfavourable.

The data from the NUT revealed that states such as Abia, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara failed to conduct recruitment between 2018 and 2022.

The data also revealed that only the FCT, Lagos, and Katsina conducted recruitment during the period under review.

However, Niger State recruited 186 teachers in 2022 according to the data, while Akwa Ibom recruited 3,500 teachers in 2018, and 1,000 in 2022.

Teacher shortages concerning – TCN

The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Titus Amba, also expressed concern about the shortage of teachers, adding that many governors ignored the advice of the union, which pleaded that retired teachers should be replaced with new ones.

In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Amba said, “Recruitment of teachers lies in the hands of the state governments. A significant number of teachers have left the service, and till now, there is no plan to replace them.”

Why Bayelsa did not employ teachers

Findings by our correspondent revealed that the Bayelsa State Government did not employ teachers from 2018 to 2022 due to an embargo placed on the employment of civil servants by former Governor Seriake Dickson. At that time, the state government reportedly said the public service was bloated, adding that the monthly wage bill was too high.

Sunday PUNCH also gathered that some unofficial employments were conducted into the public service in the final weeks of the Dickson administration. However, it was unclear if teachers were among those engaged.

Our correspondent’s findings, however, revealed that during the first tenure of the incumbent governor, Douye Diri, the embargo was lifted, and 2,000 teachers were employed to teach in primary and secondary schools across the state.

Efforts to speak with the Commissioner for Education, Gentle Emelah, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiowou Koku-Obiyal, proved abortive as they were said to be on official engagements.