Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State has announced that an executive bill is before the State House of Assembly for the establishment of the State Teacher Development Agency, which will focus exclusively on teacher training, retraining, and professional capacity development.
Speaking at the 2025 World Teachers’ Day celebration held at the Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi Durbar Ground in Dutse on Sunday, the governor commended teachers for their hard work, resilience, and dedication to duty, describing teaching as the foundation of every other profession.
“The objectives of the Bill, therefore, include, among others, enhancing the capacity of teaching and non-teaching staff at both the basic and post-basic levels, undertaking capacity-building programmes at the basic and post-basic levels, and enhancing teaching methodologies. Only through an agency established for this purpose would teacher development be given the actual attention it deserves.
“This underscores our concerns towards professional teacher development to ensure that our children get the opportunity to receive quality teaching from high-quality teachers. The quality of our pupils and students is directly related to the quality of our teachers.”
The Governor also restated his administration’s commitment to teachers’ welfare, continuous professional training, and recruitment to further strengthen the education sector across the state.
While recognising the role teachers play in nation building, he described them as role models and mentors who provide moral guidance and inspiration to pupils and students alike.
Teachers play the role of parents and provide moral guidance and inspiration for pupils and students to grow up as functional and productive members of society. This is precisely why most often people say that the reward of teachers is in heaven, and this is true if teachers see what they are doing as service to humanity.”
Earlier, Abdulkadir Yunusa, Jigawa State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), lauded the State Government for its continuous support to the education sector, highlighting several achievements under Governor Namadi’s leadership, including the promotion of over 16,000 teachers, the implementation of a ₦70,000 minimum wage, and the recruitment of more than 10,000 teachers across the state.
Yunusa also commended the governor for introducing digital reforms in schools, fencing off education facilities for safety, and establishing critical agencies such as the Jigawa State Senior Secondary School Education Board, Jigawa Education Resource Agency (JERA), Education Quality Assurance Agency (JISEQA), and the Teacher Training and Development Agency (JITDA).
He further acknowledged the government’s allocation of 32% of the state’s budget to education, exceeding UNESCO’s recommendation, and praised the reinstatement of the Best Teacher Award as motivation for excellence in the teaching profession.
