The wife of the Governor of Ogun state, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun has called on well meaning organizations and governments at all levels to rise up to promoting the welfare of teachers in Nigeria and Ogun state in particular.
Mrs. Abiodun made this call today during the launch of the Orange Card Project for teachers in Ogun state, held at the Ballroom of the Conference Hotels, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
As the SDG Champion in the state, she stressed her commitment towards ensuring the actualization of the SDG 4, which is to provide quality education to the young generation for good socioeconomic development of the state, for a secured future.
Mrs. Abiodun emphasized that partnership and corporate responsibility was required from the private sector as it was expected to invest into the provision of infrastructure, training and retraining of teachers in the state.
According to her, the present administration in Ogun state, under the leadership of Prince Dapo Abiodun was passionate about education and would stop at nothing to bring back to the state, the lost glory in the sector.
She advocated for an enabling environment and cheap Internet facilities among others for teachers in Public and Private Schools in Ogun state noting that the greatest investment that could be done was in the next generation by making the teachers happy in order to have happy students.
Mrs. Abiodun commended the initiative of the laudable program as well as the organisers and sponsors of the project aimed at supplying commodities to teachers at control prices for caring for their needs.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu Ode, Professor Abayomi Arigbadu spoke on the title, ‘The teachers we sow, the future we reap’ describing teachers as foundation of any society.
He listed the challenges of teachers in Nigeria, to include, low pay for long hours, lack of social recognition, lack of conducive working environment and lack of laptops and internet facilities stating the need for governments to motivate and restructure their pay.
The Lead Consultant, Orange Card Project, Mr. Oladipo Oke in his address said the project was a platform to alleviate the hardships faced by teachers in the state by giving them the enabling environment to restore their dignity, pride and enterprise in the teaching profession.
According to him, the project would give educational grants and scholarships to teachers to further their career and that of their wards, products ranging from food provision, electrical and home appliances with credit free loans to acquire some products and offer local and international training programs to improve skills and position them for career opportunities among others.
