The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has assured teachers in Lagos that their welfare will be a priority of the his government when elected. He stated this today during an interactive session with the Lagos State teachers held at the at the Blue Roof, LTV 8 Complex, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
In his address, Ambode aligned himself with the teachers describing himself first, as a son of a Teacher, and then, a fellow civil servant. He promised to use his understanding of the challenges they face and his experience in the civil service to serve the best interests of teachers. He said, “I am the son of a Teacher, and also a civil servant like you. So, I have the capacity in the firsthand to understand your concerns and adequately deal with them. I recognize you as the people who help build the society that we hope to govern, I therefore assure that, all I will do as Governor of this state will be in favour of your welfare and interests”.
“I intend to continue and even improve upon the good work done in the education sector by the present government, and with your support, I am sure the best is yet to come”, Ambode stressed.
Speaking through the Chairman of the Lagos state Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Adesegun AbdRaheem, the teachers stated that the present administration of Governor Fashola had done quite well in the Education sector but firmly expressed their strong desires for better welfare package and recognition of their efforts.
The teachers had an opportunity to ask Akinwunmi Ambode questions which expectedly centered on their welfare, clarifications on their leave bonus, improved standard of education, security, better staffing and appropriate recognition within the civil service. In his response, Ambode clarified the leave bonus mis-information and stated his readiness to reverse to the harmonized salary structure if that was the wish of Civil servants. This was received with a lot of cheers by the teachers.
“The facilities for learning in our schools will be adequately provided. I have been to some of the best schools in the world to acquire knowledge. I want to replicate such standards in Lagos schools. This is not impossible; we will work together to achieve it”, stated the assuring Ambode. He added that the Education sector under his watch will see reforms that will upgrade the stance of teachers, elevate their working standards, introduce more capacity building programmes and training for them and generally improve the standard of education in the state.
On behalf of the teachers, Comrade Adeshina expressed confidence in Mr. Ambode’s capabilities to keep Lagos on the path of excellence, as he gave testimonials of some of the APC governorship candidate’s acts of leadership and kindness to the teachers’ union in the past. He described some of Ambode’s kind gestures in the past to teachers at different times when he was the state’s Accountant-General.
The event was attended by the Mr. Ambode’s running mate, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Yinka Olagundoye, senior civil servants in the Ministry Education, a cross Section of Principals, Vice Principals, Head Teachers, Assistant Head Teachers and other members of the Lagos state chapter of the N.U.T.