Teachers across Ogun State used a rare collective platform on Sunday to press APC governorship aspirant Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola with a formal charter of demands, centering on the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme, full implementation of the National Minimum Wage, and the long-delayed Teachers’ Peculiar Salary Structure, at an interactive session held at Ake Palace Ground in Abeokuta.
The gathering, described by multiple union leaders as unprecedented, brought together representatives from education unions and professional associations across the state. Chairman of the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, Apostle Biodun Sanyaolu, framed the significance of the moment clearly. “This is the first time teachers are coming together to prepare a covenant document containing their expectations from someone aspiring to govern Ogun State,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of secondary school principals, ANCOPSS Ogun State President Evangelist Alaba Olugbenle opened proceedings by acknowledging Adeola’s existing track record in education, pointing to school renovations, library provisions, distributed textbooks and laptops, and his sponsorship of 2026 WASSCE fees for more than 2,000 indigent students at a cost exceeding N80 million. He also credited the senator with intervening during the 2025 education crisis to help preserve scholarship access for Ogun students.
But the heart of the session belonged to Felix Agbesanwa, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, who presented the collective demands directly. Central among them was the pension issue: teachers want either a full return to the old pension scheme or a comprehensive fix to the problems plaguing the Contributory Pension Scheme, framed as necessary to guarantee reliable retirement benefits. Agbesanwa also called for complete implementation of the Teachers’ Peculiar Salary Structure, immediate rollout of the approved National Minimum Wage, and a lengthy list of additional welfare measures, including cleared leave allowance arrears dating back to 2015, a transport allowance increase from N10,000 to N50,000, higher rural posting allowances, a “One Teacher, One Laptop” initiative, functional health insurance, and improved school security. “The next phase of educational development must focus squarely on teachers’ welfare because motivated teachers produce better learning outcomes,” he said.
Other stakeholders reinforced the same themes from different angles. Yayi Teachers Coordinator Sunday Odunaro specifically pressed for the pension scheme’s abolition, while the Employed Graduate Teachers Association coordinator called for a Teachers’ Advisory Council within the Governor’s Office to institutionalize ongoing dialogue. Ogun Teach Interns Coordinator Tijani Sakiru pushed for the continuation and expansion of the Ogun Teach programme, along with a reduction of the internship period from two years to one.
Responding to the collective appeal, Adeola offered a mix of firm commitments and more cautious openness, depending on the issue. “I have listened carefully to all your submissions and complaints. I can only promise to do better and move forward with you,” he said, confirming that shortening the Ogun Teach internship period would get immediate attention and pledging to establish the requested Teachers’ Advisory Council.
On the pension question specifically, he stopped short of an outright promise, opting instead for a commitment to review. “We are going to look at the Contributory Pension Scheme. If abolishing it turns out to be the best available option, we will go by it,” he said. He additionally pledged to domesticate the federal government’s approved retirement age increase for teachers, recruit more teaching staff to close manpower gaps, clear outstanding entitlements, and strengthen teachers’ cooperative societies to improve loan access.
Adeola also used the session to highlight his existing record in the sector, citing the construction of 128 classroom blocks and 56 staff rooms, 13 ICT centres, distribution of over 300,000 textbooks and 12,250 laptops, more than 12,000 scholarships and bursaries awarded, and his role in sponsoring legislation that upgraded the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, to full university status. He framed his approach going forward as an extension of that existing commitment. “No education system can thrive without motivated and well-supported teachers,” he said, pledging full implementation of the National Teachers’ Policy in Ogun State and describing the initiative as consistent with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
