The clock is ticking on Nigeria’s education system. Dr. Angela Ajala, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education, has issued a stark warning: without immediate action, the country will face a severe teacher shortage within half a decade.
Speaking to the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja, Ajala painted a grim picture of enrollment in teacher-training institutions. “In some colleges, you find only about 30 students spread across 10 programmes. The attrition rate is alarming,” she said. “If we do not act now, Nigeria may not have enough teachers in the near future.”
Ajala didn’t mince words about the stakes. “Teacher education lies at the heart of national development,” she declared. “If you get it wrong with a teacher, just know that Nigeria is finished. Every engineer, doctor, scientist, entrepreneur, politician and leader passes through the hands of a teacher.”
She launched a full-throated attack on the long-standing neglect of the profession and the damaging narrative that teaching is a career of last resort. “You can fix a faulty car,” she said. “But when a teacher damages a child in the classroom, that damage can last a lifetime. Those children become the future professionals and leaders of society.”
To reverse the trend, the NCCE is rolling out sweeping reforms. Colleges of Education will now offer a dual mandate: graduates can earn the Nigeria Certificate in Education, a degree, and globally recognized skills certification all at once. “Who else offers that opportunity?” Ajala asked. “Colleges of Education are becoming institutions where students can earn multiple qualifications and acquire international skills that make them globally competitive.”
Ajala also defended the controversial decision to scrap the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination as a requirement for admission into Colleges of Education. “What is UTME? It is a two-hour examination. It is not an achievement test,” she explained. “Decisions like these were not taken arbitrarily; they were based on evidence, data and projections about the future of teacher education in Nigeria.”
She noted that the commission is revising curricula to align with international standards, insisting that Nigeria’s teacher training is not far behind countries like Finland and Singapore.
Ajala urged education journalists to become agents of change. “You are not just reporters; you are reformers,” she told the ECAN delegation led by Chairman Chuks Ukwuatu. “What you report shapes public opinion, influences policy conversations and changes mindsets.”
Ukwuatu congratulated Ajala on her historic appointment as the first female Executive Secretary of the NCCE and pledged the association’s commitment to objective reporting on education reforms. He also announced the upcoming Education Conference and Awards, which will assess the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on the sector.
