Akwa Ibom Approves ₦50,000 Wardrobe Allowance for Teachers

Akwa Ibom State teachers are getting a new allowance and more colleagues. Governor Umo Eno approved a ₦50,000 wardrobe allowance for state-employed teachers, announced the recruitment of 2,000 more, and declared a state of emergency in the education sector.

Mr Eno made the announcements on Monday, October 5, at the 2026 World Teachers' Day celebration at the Uyo Township Stadium. He said teachers should look neat and smart to inspire confidence among their pupils, adding that "teachers' rewards are here".

The allowance covers the roughly 20,000 teachers the governor cited, which comes to about ₦1 billion. TheWill reports a more detailed figure of 21,167 public school teachers, who would also get a ₦10,000 transport allowance, and values the whole package at over ₦2.1 billion. The state government will also give each of the 1,776 registered private schools ₦500,000, worth about ₦888 million, which the governor said they should use to support their own teachers.

Mr Eno approved the recruitment of 2,000 additional teachers, mainly for public primary schools, on top of 1,000 approved earlier. He declared the education emergency and directed Deputy Governor Akon Eyakenyi to work with Education Commissioner Professor Ubong Umoh to form a high-powered committee. It will review the whole sector and recommend a plan to upgrade it.

The governor ordered an inter-ministerial committee to complete the Teachers' House along IBB Way in Uyo within six months, and called for regular training and retraining of teachers. The state is also converting its College of Education into a University of Education, with Professor Philip Afaha named pioneer Vice-Chancellor.

Mr Eno said the state has built and furnished 38 model primary schools, at least one in each local government area, and released ₦15 billion as a matching grant to SUBEB, which has intervened in over 100 schools. He added that the administration has kept education free and compulsory and has paid WAEC and NECO fees for 172,000 students. He also expected more accountability from teachers.

The state NUT chairman, Edet Emenyi, thanked the governor, saying he is the first governor in his seven years in the role to attend World Teachers' Day in person. The national NUT president, Audu Amba, was represented by Ofonime Ekanem. Mr Eno also thanked teachers for endorsing his second-term bid, and the announcements come as election season approaches. The governor said education should be a long-term investment and not a tool for political competition.

The impact will depend on how quickly the allowances are paid and how many of the 2,000 new teachers are actually recruited. 247NewsCheck will follow the story.

Source and attribution: This 247NewsCheck report is based on the governor's statements at the event, as reported by Premium Times, Daily Trust, ThisDay, Voice of Nigeria, TheWill and other Nigerian outlets. The claims are the government's own and are not independent findings by 247NewsCheck.