With a matching grant from the Dangote Foundation, every share the state buys for a teacher is doubled.
Some women teachers in Kwara State could soon own a piece of the Dangote Refinery.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq announced the plan in Ilorin on Monday. He spoke at an event for World Teachers’ Day 2026. The state will buy shares for the teachers in the refinery’s public offering (IPO).
How the Plan Works
The Dangote Foundation runs a share window open only to women. According to the governor, it will match what the state pays. For every ten shares the state buys, the foundation adds ten more as a grant. So ten shares become twenty.
The state will buy 10,000 shares for 10 women teachers in each outstanding public school. Women teachers under TESCOM and SUBEB will benefit. Retired women teachers will benefit too.
AbdulRazaq told the Head of Service, Dr Olufunke Mercy Shittu, to work out how to find the retired teachers who qualify.
His reason is simple. He wants women in the profession to build assets and not depend on a monthly salary alone.
Awards Worth About ₦120 Million
The event also handed out cash prizes to teachers and schools:
- ₦29 million was shared among 29 principals and head teachers.
- ₦59.5 million went to 119 teachers.
- ₦22 million went to 11 lecturers, both serving and retired, under the Pioneer Professorship Recognition Awards.
- ₦9 million was given to three schools for the Best Kept School Award.
The governor said the prizes thank teachers for their sacrifice and keep them motivated. He also promised to keep improving their pay and working conditions.
Reforms and Promotions
AbdulRazaq defended his record on education. His administration hires teachers on merit and trains them continually. It also upgrades school buildings and uses data and technology through KwaraLEARN.
In addition, teachers are promoted regularly and receive the 27.5 per cent Teachers’ Specific Allowance. As proof that this works, he pointed to the results Kwara pupils have posted in national and international competitions.
There was news for working teachers, too. The Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof Sheu Raheem Adaramaja, said the state has approved this year’s promotion exercise. The exam will take place on October 10. He added that Kwara will be the first state to run its 2026 promotion exercise.
What Others Said
The Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe, said the awards show that hard work gets rewarded. The keynote speaker, Comrade Umar Farooq, is a former chairman of the Kwara NLC. He called support for teachers an investment in children and society.
The state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Yusuf Wahab Agboola, thanked the government for its work on schools and teachers’ welfare. However, he asked Kwara to adopt the national harmonised retirement age for teachers.
