Atiku Challenges Tinubu on Teachers' Plight, Says Leaders Who Can't Name Their Own Educators Can't Grasp the Struggle

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is running for president on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) platform, has taken aim at President Bola Tinubu over the financial strain bearing down on Nigerian teachers and households, arguing that a leader who cannot name his own teachers is in no position to remedy their circumstances. Atiku's remarks came in a Monday, October 5 statement released by Phrank Shaibu, who directs strategic communication for the ADC Presidential Campaign Council. In it, Atiku looked back on his own early education in Jada, saying his primary school teachers helped set his course after he lost his parents at a young age. He set that history against the questions and disputes that have surrounded President Tinubu's own academic record. Atiku said it was telling and deeply humiliating that Tinubu is unable to identify even one teacher who taught him or one classmate who studied alongside him. He said teachers build the future of every nation, and that their wellbeing deserves more than symbolic tributes on Teachers' Day. According to Atiku, a government should not honor teachers with a day of praise and then abandon them to hardship for the remaining months, adding that a commemorative message does nothing to settle a teacher's bills. Turning to conditions in the profession, Atiku observed that educators are being squeezed by steep inflation that has driven up the cost of staple foods, transport, rent and utility charges, while their pay has remained flat and no longer covers the cost of living. Atiku, who also established the American University of Nigeria, extended an apology to the country's teachers on behalf of the political establishment for what he described as systemic governance failures. He committed that an ADC administration would carry out organized policy changes aimed at bringing down basic living costs, generating steady jobs, and securing decent pay for teachers nationwide.