Abia State Government has reassured Teachers in the State of it’s commitment to enhanced welfare, regular salaries, and improved incentives.
The Commissioner for information, Prince Okey Kanu gave the assurance, on Tuesday, while briefing Newsmen on the outcome of this week’s Exco Meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
Prince Kanu highlighted regular salary and pension payments, implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage and policy reforms including the increase of teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65 years.
He noted that additionally, teachers who left the classroom during past administrations due to unpaid salaries are receiving incentive packages to encourage their return.
“The good news is that the Governor, His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti is paying salaries to Abia workers and pensioners regularly, as promised.
“The State Government also was among the first to implement the new 70,000 minimum wage policy.
“Also, as part of incentives to encourage teachers who fled the classrooms to the civil service when the opposition was not paying them their salaries, the Executive Council came up with the idea of paying some discriminatory compensation packages to such teachers. It did not stop at that.
“The retirement age was also increased from 60 to 65 years before retirement. All these were deliberate and intentional policies aimed at achieving a purpose, just to encourage and motivate our teachers, and to encourage those who left the classrooms to the civil service to go back there when it appeared we were lacking teachers”, Prince Kanu added.
The Commissioner who addressed recent news on social media suggesting an impending teachers’ strike, over remuneration disparities, between Primary and Junior Secondary School Teachers, assured that the issue is being handled.
“There is this news that has been trending in the social media of an impending strike by Abia teachers. “Yes, we have a section of teachers who are not happy about certain issues concerning their remuneration, owing partly to some differentials between the salaries of primary school teachers and their counterparts in the junior secondary schools.
“But honestly, the issue has been blown out of proportion, probably by the opposition. “The Commissioner for Basic Education is on the matter, and will be meeting with NUT leadership to address that issue.
“This is a problem-solving administration, not one in which a Governor goes frolicking while the state burns”, Prince Kanu stated
He disclosed that the State Government has concluded Phase 2 of its teacher training programme, a major component of it’s education sector reforms.
Prince Kanu said that the training, which held between April 9 and 19, 2025, was organized by the Educational Reform and Innovation Team (ERIT) and covered modern teaching strategies to equip Teachers with 21st-century competencies.
According to the Commissioner, over 2,200 teachers drawn from the 17 Local Government Areas of the State participated in the exercise which include competence-based learning, pedagogy, content mastery, STEM best practices, peer collaboration, and differentiated instruction.
