Plateau, Imo, Cross River Public Schools Worst Hit As Teacher Shortage Persists

By RICHARD NDOMA, Calabar; FELIX IGBEKOYI, Asaba; DAMILOLA ORIGBEMISUYI, Akure; EMMANUEL MGBEAHURIKE, Owerri; ACHOR ABIMAJE, Jos and ADEBAYO WAHEED, Ibadan

Many public primary and secondary schools across the country are grappling with an acute shortage of teachers, a development that threatens effective teaching and learning, particularly in rural communities. Findings by LEADERSHIP Sunday have revealed that teacher retirements without replacement, poor welfare and remuneration, rural-urban migration and unwillingness to accept postings to remote communities are among the major factors worsening the crisis.

LEADERSHIP Sunday investigations across Cross River, Delta, Ondo, Imo, Plateau and Oyo states showed varying degrees of teacher shortages, with Plateau, Imo and Cross River emerging as some of the worst-affected states. While some schools operate with only a handful of teachers handling multiple subjects, others struggle to provide qualified teachers for critical subjects, leaving pupils and students at a disadvantage.

In Cross River State, about 11,861 teachers are teaching from Primary One to Six across the three senatorial districts.

The director of Administration (DA), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Joseph Effiom, who spoke on behalf of the chairman, Chief Margaret Fidelia Okpo Ene, disclosed this in an interaction with LEADERSHIP Sunday in Calabar.

Effiom said the board could not provide the figure for Junior Secondary School teachers from JSS 1 to 3 because the authority for junior secondary education had yet to be formally transferred from the Ministry of Education to SUBEB.

He said SUBEB was in dire need of over 2,000 teachers, as well as 500 security personnel to protect infrastructure across schools in the state’s 18 local government areas.

“SUBEB is in dire need of 2,000 more teachers with 500 security men to safeguard basic infrastructure across schools in the state,” Effiom said.

Findings by LEADERSHIP Sunday revealed that while the state Ministry of Education puts the number of secondary school teachers at about 6,400 for over 280 public secondary schools, many rural schools have only three to five teachers handling all subjects.

A teacher in one of the schools in Calabar, who preferred not to be named in print, expressed dismay, lamenting that having one teacher handle four subjects was unhealthy for educational development.

He decried the absence of Mathematics teachers in a school in his hometown in the Cross River Central Senatorial District, where he hails from.

A retired headmaster in Cross River State, Mr Abang (surname withheld), said one of the reasons behind the shortage of teachers was retirement without replacement, noting that over 3,000 teachers retired between 2018 and 2024 without replacement due to an embargo on employment.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that other factors responsible for the shortage include rural-urban migration, as teachers posted to rural areas lobby their way back to urban centres such as Calabar, Ogoja and Ikom, leaving schools in the hinterlands understaffed.

The Cross River State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Gregory Olayi, described the teacher shortage as alarming, calling on governments at all levels not to turn a deaf ear to the problem.

On his part, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Delta State has lamented the acute shortage of teachers and instructional materials required for effective teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools across the state.

The NUT chairman in the state, Comrade Dickson Poubeni, called on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to put the necessary machinery in place to address the challenge and ensure a peaceful and conducive teaching and learning environment in schools.

He said there was a recent approval for salary grade level 17 progression for university graduate teachers in the primary school system.

A retired teacher, Mr Cletus Momah, said, “The issue of continued stagnation of University Graduate Primary School Teachers on SGL 14 had lingered for so long in Delta State under successive administrations until the recent intervention by Governor Oborevwori who put the issue to rest.”

The commissioner for Technical Education, Hon. Smart Ufoh, said while the work of teachers might not always attract public attention, its impact was reflected in the lives and achievements of their students.

He said the state government had plans to fill vacancies in schools, especially in remote areas and in critical subject areas.

On the challenges of teacher recruitment, some teachers alleged that payments were being demanded for preferred postings after appointments.

A teacher recently transferred from Ekredjebor, Ughelli North LGA, alleged that, “The whole system is rotten. They collect money and transfer people to wherever they want. The choice depends on what you pay. I was transferred and paid N50,000 before I was transferred back to where I wanted after two weeks.”

A principal, Patricia, alleged that her inability to pay influenced her posting. “Transfer is to the highest bidder, because I am a widow and don’t have the funds. I was taken to a school in a remote village without WAEC accreditation and less than 200 students,” she said.

Another teacher, Victoria, said: “I didn’t pay the N50,000 transfer fee, so I was transferred to a riverine school in Ewu. This has been the trend over the years, it is sad.”

Similarly, students in some public schools in Ondo State are struggling to learn due to a shortage of teachers, with some secondary school students preparing for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) reportedly without teachers for key subjects.

The situation has raised concerns among students and teachers over its impact on academic performance, classroom learning and the workload of available teachers.

A student, Francis, from a school in Ido-Ani, a rural community in Ose Local Government Area, said the number of teachers available in his school fluctuated, affecting students’ interest in attending classes.

“In our own school, I don’t even know the number of teachers we have. At times, we will see four teachers in the whole school; other times, we will see two teachers. This has really affected us because most times, we are not even interested in going to school because there is no teacher available to teach us,” he said.

A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the shortage had increased the workload of those still in service, with some handling multiple subjects across several classrooms.

“Imagine a single teacher teaching two to three subjects in more than six classrooms, with each class having more than 100 students. The time we feel the stress the most is during examinations. Marking scripts is very stressful, and at the end of everything, we most times fall sick,” the teacher said, calling on the government to address the situation.

Reacting to the crisis, the Ondo State Commissioner for Education, Igbekele Ajibefun, attributed the shortage partly to years of inadequate recruitment, during which teachers retired without being replaced.

Ajibefun said the state recruited more than 2,000 teachers in 2025, adding that the exercise had improved staffing levels but had not completely bridged the gap.

“Though not all schools have the required number of teachers now, I want to assure you that soon, more teachers will be recruited to continue to fill the gap,” he said.

The commissioner said the number of teachers required to fill the gap could not be determined precisely because retirements continued to change the staffing situation. He disclosed that more than 100 teachers could retire in a month.

He added that the government’s recruitment target was to bring more teachers into the system than the number leaving through retirement.

Ajibefun also acknowledged that low salaries discouraged young people from entering the teaching profession, arguing that better remuneration was needed to attract and retain teachers.

The chairman of the Ondo State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Dr Oluwadayisi Oke, also acknowledged the shortage, saying the government was making efforts to improve teachers’ welfare through training, retraining and the regular payment of salaries and pensions.

Oke expressed optimism that improved welfare would encourage more young people to take up teaching, while indicating that further recruitment was expected.

Meanwhile, the shortage has prompted some school alumni associations to intervene. The Vice-President of Imade College Owo Old Students Association (IMACOSA), Surveyor Felix Ajibade, said the association had employed 29 ad hoc teachers to support teaching at the school.

Ajibade said the association paid each teacher N70,000 monthly to prevent students from suffering the consequences of inadequate staffing. He appealed to the government to provide more teachers to public schools.

Findings by LEADERSHIP Sunday showed that Ondo State has 6,880 teachers in public primary schools, according to records obtained from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

However, the number of teachers serving in public secondary schools and the estimated number of additional teachers required to address staffing gaps across primary and secondary schools could not be established.

Efforts to obtain comments from the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Leke Alebiosu, were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to repeated calls and messages.

The Imo State commissioner for Education, Ben Ikeguruka, disclosed that, according to the ministry’s records, the state had 6,641 teachers serving in public primary and secondary schools.

He said the ministry’s needs assessment revealed that the state required an additional 12,000 teachers to fill the existing gap.

However, available indications suggest that teachers are grossly inadequate, a situation confirmed by both the ministry’s and NUT’s records.

Feelers revealed that Governor Hope Uzodimma had yet to recruit any teachers but was making moves to employ more teachers.

The challenges confronting primary and secondary education in the state include rural-urban imbalance, poor welfare and inadequate remuneration.

Teachers are also known to reject postings to remote, riverine and hard-to-reach areas.

This attitude is largely attributed to the absence of rural allowances and accommodation, as well as poor salary structures.

The Imo State NUT chairman, Comrade Akujobi Nwokoro, said the union had been engaging with the state government on the need to recruit more teachers into the system.

“What we have for now is not enough to go round,” he said, calling on the government to do the needful.

Similarly, the Plateau State chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Kefas Nanpan, decried the severe shortage of teachers across public schools in the state.

He hinted that the number of public school teachers in Plateau State had plummeted from about 24,000 in 2013 to fewer than 13,000 in 2026.

According to him, the acute shortage had left numerous public and rural schools operating with just a headmaster and a single classroom teacher, or sometimes only one or two teachers for an entire school.

Meanwhile, officials of the Plateau State Ministry of Education and SUBEB declined to disclose the number of primary and secondary school teachers currently on the government’s payroll.

However, a retired teacher from Tudun Wada in Jos North LGA, Bulus Choji, told our correspondent that teachers in primary and secondary schools in the state were grossly inadequate.

According to him, teachers were retiring without replacement, adding that brain drain, poor recruitment exercises over the last five to 10 years, refusal to accept postings to rural areas and insecurity in some LGAs had contributed to the shortage of teachers in the state.

The staff strength in Oyo State’s public secondary schools is 26,436, managed through the Post-Primary Schools Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), up from 13,730 in 2019.

This followed recruitment drives, including the recent employment of 7,500 teaching and 3,000 non-teaching staff.

According to the Nigeria Educational Management Information System (DNEMIS) Annual School Census, the total number of teachers across reporting primary and secondary schools in Oyo State is approximately 44,715, serving around 2,997,053 learners, with a learner-teacher ratio of 41.8.

Official records and statements from the Oyo State Government and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) indicate the current teacher situation and staffing needs.

A staff member of the state’s SUBEB, Adeniji Adeniran, said the number of teachers in public secondary schools increased from 13,730 in 2019 to 26,436 following continuous recruitment by Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration through the Post-Primary Schools Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM).

He added that the state recently recruited 7,500 teachers and 3,000 non-teaching staff, alongside previous recruitment cohorts of over 5,000 teachers.

According to state and union assessments, secondary schools now have a relatively adequate supply of teachers following these mass recruitment exercises, although ongoing deployments continue across the 10 educational zones.

“While secondary staffing has significantly improved, the Oyo State Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and state officials have noted an urgent and persistent shortage of teachers in public primary schools.

“The state government has targeted basic education through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), with plans and approvals to recruit thousands of primary school teachers (including previous batches scaling up towards 7,000 targeted basic education staff) to bridge the gap in rural and urban primary classrooms,” he added.

A retired teacher, Mrs Adejoke Olanrewaju, noted that with the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff by the state government, there was no major gap left.