Teachers in both primary and secondary schools in Ekiti state have announced their support for the second term bid of the governor, Biodun Oyebanji for the 2026 governorship election.
They spoke during the 2024 World Teachers’ Day Celebration in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Saturday, with the theme ‘ Valuing Teachers’ Voices: Towards a New Social Contract for Education’
At the event, Governor Oyebanji splashed N48 million on outstanding teachers across the state with the best public primary and secondary teachers getting N6 million each , among other monetary prizes for the best categories of teachers in the state.
In the breakdown of the prizes, Mrs Modupe Folayemi of Saint Francis’ Primary school, Igbara Odo and Mr. Odunayo Oriloye of Notre Dame Grammar School, Usi Ekiti, received the N6 million cash prize.
The Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers(NUT), Ekiti State, Daodu Bamidele, announced that all the teachers lauded the governor’s positive educational policies and pronounced that they are solidly backing his reelection in 2026.
Daodu commended Oyebanji for his positive contributions to strengthen the sector, urging the government to initiate policies that will checkmate brain- drain in education to retain the best brains within the system.
He appealed to the governor for the implementation of 65 years retirement for teachers, as obtainable in some states of the federation to give his colleagues job security and relevance in the scheme of things.
According to him, “All the teachers in our dear state are appreciative of what the Governor has done. He has paid some of the arrears owed by the past administration and also initiated new ones. For the 2026 governorship election, we want to say that we are solidly behind him.”
On his part, the chairman of Academic Staff Union of Secondary School(ASUSS), Sola Adigun said the administration of governor Oyebanji has impacted positively on the lives of teachers in the state with his favourable policies and welfare packages.
He advocated that the secondary school teachers should be given the chance to ascend grade level 17 for better career progression in the state.
Speaking, Oyebanji, represented by the Deputy Governor, Chief Monisade Afuye, while congratulating the teachers for witnessing this year’s celebration, the governor said his administration has ensured expeditious and timely payment of salaries, deductions, and approval of multimillion naira worth of housing and vehicle loans to motivate the teachers and shore up their outputs.
Oyebanji who described teachers as the fortress of the education sector, promised to provide all the necessary incentives that could propel Ekiti’s rating in educational advancement of the country.
Miffed by reported cases of examination malfeasance in the system, the governor warned that his government won’t tolerate examination malpractice under any guise, promising to wield the big stick against promoters of such sordid action in the state.
On efforts being devised to fortify the sector, Oyebanji said besides payment of salaries and other emoluments, that teachers were being trained locally and internationally to sharpen their mental horizons and increase propensity for better delivery.
The governor applauded the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of secondary schools and Association of Public Schools Head teachers of Nigeria for their partnership, professionalism and cooperation at all times.
He said, “It is on record that our administration has initiated car and housing loans for primary school teachers, ensured distribution of laptop computers to public secondary schools, colleges and special schools to mitigate the consequential personnel gap and regular disbursement of car/housing loans to eligible secondary school teachers, among others.
“Through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) a World Bank assured project, many of our public schools have been refurbished and perimeter fences have been constructed in line with our safe school initiative.
“We have also fulfilled our promise to address the issue of career progression for graduate teachers in primary schools by approving their advancement from grade level 15 to 16, so as to bring them to a parallel peak with their counterparts in the civil service.”
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