In an interview with The PUNCH, CEO, Florishgate Consult, Mrs Dideolu Adekogbe, said the request by the United Kingdom for Nigerian teachers showed that Nigerian teachers were competent but not taken care of by the government.

She said, “The practitioners from the medical sector have always been on mass exodus and teachers have also been going but this is the most surprising, not with this open letter.

“But I see something new here, this shows we are not doing badly at all as teachers as compared with the general proclamation that we are not good enough.

“Any profession will thrive in an enabled environment. Nigeria does not have a plan for anybody. The western world does not also wish Nigeria well. They contributed to where we are by ensuring that we lack unity, and peace, and fight ourselves.

“They have waited for this to happen. Their plan for Nigeria is not for progress. Obviously, they are gaining so much from our ignorance.

“Another educator, Peter Omonigho-Dugbo lamented that the government failed to make teaching attractive to educators, saying, there would be a shortage of manpower in all schools if Nigerian teachers explored the UK invite.

“This will result in a worse situation in the already falling standard of education. I foresee a time when certificates and degrees from our institutions would no longer be acceptable to institutions and employers abroad.

He explained that he was in full support of the opportunity thrown open to some African countries, including Nigeria, for teachers to migrate to the UK for teaching engagement and residency.

“The government of Nigeria does not value its workforce, owing to the demeaning work conditions and unacceptable, lamentable pay package for teachers both in the public and private sectors that the government and private school owners offer educators in Nigeria.

“Very many of my colleagues that I know of have already taken advantage of this window to get out of this unsafe and insecure environment. Many more are planning to leave,” he said.

Proprietor, Topdeal College, Ikorodu, Lagos, Dr Oladeji Akinola, suggested that the government should employ more teaching staff for its teeming number of students and establish more Unity schools to meet up with high demand the public schools

“The government needs to employ more staff to be able to meet up with the large number of students that they admit yearly. The ratio of teachers to students in government schools is very wide. For example, a government secondary school has a population of 3,000 students to 30 teachers, so there can’t be efficiency. The government needs to employ more hands and provide good pay to fill in the gaps.

He added that the government must increase budgetary allocations to the sector and honour agreements that had been signed with the teaching unions, saying the only way that strikes could be stopped was if the welfare of all teachers and lecturers were prioritized.

“Building of more classrooms and equipping them, supplying teaching and learning materials, and improving staff welfare and remuneration.

“Funding for research suffers in three ways in Nigeria, First, researchers without sponsorship, particularly in the core sciences.

“Study findings are often abandoned on library shelves because the government isn’t committed to research-oriented development. Researchers don’t have the means to promote their work and research findings.

“Research output is poor and repetitive because there are no effective measures in place to track research output nationwide.”