The Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) has called on the Kogi State Government to urgently recruit more teachers and improve infrastructure across the state’s educational institutions.
The Executive Director of CHRCR, Idris Miliki Abdul, made the call in a statement issued on Monday to commemorate this year’s Teachers’ Day.
Abdul described teachers as critical to the development of society, noting that professionals and leaders across different sectors, including doctors, lawyers, engineers, judges, governors and presidents, were products of the teaching profession.
He urged the state government to give teachers special attention by addressing manpower shortages, particularly in basic schools, while also rehabilitating schools requiring urgent intervention.
The human rights activist also called for the provision of affordable transportation across the 21 local government areas of the state to ease the burden on students and other citizens.
According to him, rising fuel prices have placed considerable financial pressure on students, making transportation increasingly difficult for many families.
Abdul expressed concern over what he described as the poor state of public transportation in Kogi State, saying the sector had largely been left in the hands of private operators.
He questioned the effectiveness of the Ministry of Transportation in addressing the transportation challenges confronting residents.
He lamented the decline of the state-owned Confluence Transport Company, saying its collapse had left its workers without jobs and deprived residents of a viable public transportation alternative.
The CHRCR director therefore appealed to the administration of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo to declare a state of emergency in the transportation sector.
He further urged the state government to explore the Federal Government’s transportation initiatives and similar programmes being implemented by other states to cushion the effects of rising transportation costs on citizens.
“Teachers are great people. Without teachers, there will be no doctors, lawyers, engineers, judges, governors and even presidents,” Abdul said.
He commended teachers for their contributions to the development of society and called for policies that would improve their welfare and create a more conducive learning environment for students across Kogi State.