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… How Nigeria Pays Salaries to People Who Never Teach
By Amb. Izuagbe Peter Ozimede
The Scandal We Refuse to Name
Every year we lament “teacher shortage.” Yet the deeper crisis is rarely spoken: thousands of people sit on government payroll as teachers who have not entered a classroom in years.
This is The Ghost Teacher Syndrome — a quiet drain on our education budget and a direct assault on the future of millions of Nigerian children.
Across states, three patterns repeat. There are those appointed for political patronage during elections who now run private businesses full-time, leaving PTA teachers to handle their classes. There are names of transferred, retired, or even deceased staff that remain active on IPPIS and state payrolls, with salaries still paid. And there are those who teach in multiple private schools yet appear once a month in a public school only to sign the register and validate payment.
The consequence is cruel arithmetic. Government announces ten thousand teachers employed, but barely four thousand are present. Billions meant for learning are paid for absence. Real teachers are crushed under classes of eighty to one hundred and twenty pupils, leading to burnout and resignations. Data for planning becomes fiction, so policies fail before they start. Worse, young teachers learn that work carries no reward, and integrity erodes.
On the ground the impact is visible. In Rivers, Kano, Benue, Edo, Delta and Akwa Ibom, schools with six hundred pupils are run by four teachers. Principals who report ghost names face threats. NYSC members and volunteer parents teach, while “qualified” staff collect salaries from home. We do not only lack teachers. We lack accountability.
What Must Be Done
This will be painful, but silence is more expensive.
First, government must institute biometric and facial audits every term. No NIN, no BVN, no live face scan, no salary. Payroll should be linked to attendance with GPS timestamps, backed by unannounced inspections from SUBEB and TESCOM.
Second, transparency. Every school gate should display the names of teachers and subjects taught. Let parents and communities verify who is present. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Third, enforcement. Ghost salary collection must be treated as economic sabotage. EFCC and ICPC should prosecute offenders and recover up to five years of fraudulent pay to fund teacher housing and classroom materials.
Finally, dignity for those who do the work. Ghosts thrive where real teachers are owed months of pay. Teachers who are paid well and on time, and who are properly supervised, will stay and deliver.
We can build new schools and buy tablets, but if the person paid to teach is a ghost, our children risk becoming ghosts of their own future. Every education budget until then remains a prayer.
The choice is clear. Nigeria must stop paying for names and start paying for results.
Amb. Ozimede sent in this piece from Port Harcourt
