The Federal Government has targeted about 92,000 public and private early childhood care, development, and education (ECCDE) centers across the country for workforce reforms aimed at improving the quality of early learning and strengthening Nigeria’s human capital development.
The Federal Coordinator of the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme and National Early Childhood Development (ECD) Focal Point, Dr Ado J.G. Muhammad, disclosed this in a statement issued to mark the 2026 World Teachers’ Day.
Muhammad said the Federal Government, through the HCD 2.0 Programme, was committed to placing early childhood teachers, caregivers, and educators at the center of the country’s human capital development agenda.
He called on state and local governments, development partners, private providers, and communities to support efforts to improve the training, welfare, supervision, and professional development of the early childhood workforce.
“When we talk about foundational learning, we are talking about the teacher in the pre-primary class, the caregiver in the crèche, and the early childhood educator in the community learning center.
“These are the professionals who shape the first 2,000 days of a child’s life. As we strive to make every Nigerian child ready by five, the training and welfare of the people who teach them is a priority,” he said.
The 2026 World Teachers’ Day, marked under the theme “Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status, and shaping our futures,” commemorates the 60th anniversary of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
The recommendation established international standards on teachers’ rights, training, and working conditions.
Muhammad said the anniversary came at a time when the teaching profession was facing pressures from rapid technological changes, climate-related disruptions, heavy workloads, and persistent teacher shortages.
He said the quality of learning in early childhood centers depended on having a workforce that was adequately trained, fairly remunerated, supported, and properly supervised.
The HCD coordinator urged state governments to recruit, train, and supervise early childhood educators while ensuring fair and competitive remuneration, professional autonomy, and manageable workloads.
He also called for dedicated budget lines for early childhood development in state budgets.
Muhammad urged State Universal Basic Education Boards to address shortages of teachers in pre-primary classes and provide continuous professional development, including digital skills and preparedness for climate-related disruptions to learning.
He further called on local governments and Ward Development Committees to recognize early childhood educators as members of ward-level early years teams.
Private providers, he said, should commit to national quality and workforce standards, while development partners, the private sector, and communities should align their interventions around a common results framework for the early years.
“Sixty years after the world agreed on what teachers are owed, our task in Nigeria is to extend that promise to the teachers of our youngest children. Standing with teachers means standing with the child,” Muhammad said.
He commended teachers across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, particularly those working in early childhood settings, for their dedication to laying a solid foundation for Nigeria’s human capital development.
