The Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Dr Ronke Soyombo, has expressed concern over the poor remuneration of teachers in some private schools, revealing that some educators still earn as little as N20,000 monthly.
She spoke on Wednesday at the Annual Summit of the Conference for Private School Associations held in Lagos, themed “Transformation of Education in Lagos State.”
Soyombo said improving teachers’ welfare was essential to raising educational standards, stressing that teachers remained the foundation of quality education systems.
Soyombo particularly decried the welfare conditions of many teachers, recounting the experience of an award-winning educator who had to sell a vehicle he received as a reward because of poor earnings.
“I remember when Governor Dapo Abiodun and I were going to present a car to the best teacher. He was from a private school. He got a car.
“A week later, I saw him walking on the road and asked what happened to the car. He said he had sold it. When I asked why, he said he was being paid N20,000 monthly,” she said.
The registrar noted that poor remuneration remained one of the major factors affecting teacher motivation and retention in schools.
“If we want good service, we have to pay teachers well. For us to get quality service from good teachers and stop them from looking left, right and centre, they also want to send their children to good schools, so let’s pay teachers good money,” she added.
According to her, proprietors of private schools often worry that investments in teacher training may benefit competing schools if trained staff leave for better opportunities.
“Proprietors are scared and worried that if we improve the standard of our teachers, would they stay or go to other schools? We have to look at the conditions of service and make teachers the cornerstone of a quality educational system,” she stated.
She maintained that Nigeria could not transform its education sector without transforming the teaching profession and fostering stronger collaboration with private schools.
The TRCN registrar lamented that many education reforms failed because teachers were often excluded from the centre of policy implementation.
“Teachers remain the cornerstone of quality education systems. A lot of people try to improve education while ignoring the teachers from the outset,” she said.
Soyombo further called for stronger teacher regulation, continuous professional development, safeguarding measures and the responsible use of artificial intelligence in classrooms.
She disclosed that the council had enhanced its digital teacher portal to facilitate registration, licensing, certification, and verification processes, and that plans were underway to launch a mobile application for teachers nationwide.
The TRCN boss also revealed that the council was strengthening safeguarding mechanisms, including a toll-free line for reporting sexual abuse and professional misconduct, as well as plans to introduce criminal record checks for teachers.
Also speaking at the summit, renowned entrepreneur and former chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Ibukun Awosika, said effective leadership remained the most critical factor in achieving meaningful transformation in education.
Delivering a presentation titled “The Role of Leadership in the Transformation of Education,” Awosika argued that no nation could attain sustainable development without an educated and enlightened population.
“There is no development in any nation without an educated population. The extent of the enlightenment of the population is critical to the ability of the state or nation to develop and deliver on its agenda,” she said.
According to her, education must be deliberately aligned with a state’s economic and developmental aspirations to produce the human capital required for growth.
“You need minds that can think, minds that can innovate, minds that can create and influence the larger society. Leadership is responsible for the larger vision and for harnessing all the talents, gifts and abilities available in the ecosystem,” she stated.
Awosika said educational planning should be tied directly to a government’s long-term economic objectives, noting that countries seeking industrialisation often tailor their educational systems to produce the skills needed by emerging industries.
“If you know what you want to achieve within the state, then it becomes easier to determine the skills, mindset and environment that must be created to achieve those goals,” she said.
The entrepreneur stressed that leaders must identify skill gaps within their economies and design policies that encourage the development of needed talent.
Drawing comparisons with countries that offer special visas to attract skilled workers, Awosika said such nations strategically recruit talent to address workforce shortages while simultaneously investing in local capacity development.
“They have looked at the agenda they have for their countries and the human capital available to them. Where there is a gap, they go shopping for talent while building educational systems that will eventually produce those skills,” she explained.
She cited the shortage of healthcare workers in Nigeria as an example of how educational systems should respond to national manpower needs.
“We have lost a lot of our medical personnel to the rest of the world. How do we as leaders rework our educational system? How do we train more people in sectors where we have gaps?” she asked.
Awosika also challenged educators to create learning environments that encourage curiosity, critical thinking and innovation rather than suppressing students’ ability to ask questions.
“When we kill their ability to ask questions, we kill their curiosity and their ability to innovate because every innovation is a solution to a question asked and a problem solved,” she said.
She described effective leaders as visionaries, enablers and connectors whose responsibility extends beyond occupying positions of authority.
“The responsibility is not just to be the boss or have the title. It is to be a visionary, an enabler, a builder and a connector who helps bring together talents and resources to achieve a collective goal,” she added.
Also at the event, Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun, assured stakeholders that the state government remained committed to the safety of schools and the advancement of quality education.
“The security architecture in Lagos State is very strong. The governor has assured that the security of Lagos is intact,” he said.
The commissioner noted that private schools were members of the state’s Safe Schools Committee and called for stronger collaboration to enhance security across educational institutions.
He highlighted ongoing investments by the state government, including the construction of more than 400 classrooms in public schools, expansion of digital learning platforms, promotion of STEM education and continuous professional development for teachers.
According to him, 61.5 per cent of more than 45,000 students who sat the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Lagos obtained at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Alli-Balogun urged teachers to embrace artificial intelligence, modern pedagogy and professional certification through the TRCN as part of efforts to prepare learners for the future.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President of the Conference of Private School Associations in Lagos, Dr Olufemi Ogunsanya, noted that education remained the strongest instrument for nation-building and economic growth.
Ogunsanya said the quality of education available to children today would determine the quality of future leadership, workforce productivity, entrepreneurship and national development.
“Today’s conversation is not merely important; it is urgent, essential and strategic. Education remains the strongest instrument for nation-building, social stability, economic growth, innovation and global competitiveness,” she said.
According to her, a transformed education system produces skilled, ethical, adaptable and technologically competent citizens capable of competing globally.
“A transformed education system produces citizens who are skilled, ethical, adaptable, technologically competent and globally relevant. It reduces poverty, unemployment, crime, social unrest and dependency,” he said.
The COPSAIL president warned that neglecting education could have severe consequences for society, including increased insecurity, unemployment and declining productivity.
“Poor educational standards weaken national productivity, widen inequality, fuel insecurity, increase youth unemployment and diminish a society’s ability to compete in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy,” she stated.
Ogunsanya added that the global reputation of any society was significantly influenced by the strength of its educational system.
“The world pays attention to how nations prepare their young people for the future. Therefore, transforming education in Lagos State is not simply an institutional agenda; it is an economic necessity, a social imperative and a strategic investment in our collective future,” she said.
She urged stakeholders to embrace innovation, strengthen quality assurance, invest in teacher development and promote values-based education capable of preparing learners for the demands of the 21st century.
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