Kwara Government Plans Dangote Refinery Shares for Female Teachers

(Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. Photo Credit: Nigeria Stories)

Kwara State Government has announced plans to buy shares in the Dangote Refinery IPO for female teachers in the state.

The plan is meant to promote investment and financial inclusion among teachers.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq announced this on Monday in Ilorin at the 2026 World Teachers Day celebration.

He said the state will buy 10,000 shares each for 10 female teachers in every outstanding public school.

Outstanding retired female teachers will also be included, and he asked the Head of Service, Dr Olufunke Mercy Shittu, to work out how to capture them.

The governor said the plan is being done with the Dangote Foundation to help women go beyond earning a salary to owning assets.

He explained that for every ten shares the state buys, the foundation will add another ten as a grant, making twenty shares.

AbdulRazaq also gave out about N120 million in awards.

Twenty-nine best principals and head teachers got N29 million, while 119 outstanding teachers got N59.5 million.

Eleven serving and retired university lecturers received N22 million under the Pioneer Professorship Recognition Awards, and three schools shared N9 million for the Best Kept School Award.

He said his government will keep working on teachers welfare, and pointed to merit-based recruitment, regular training, better school buildings, the KwaraLEARN platform, regular promotions and the 27.5 per cent Teachers Specific Allowance.

He added that these steps are paying off in the results of Kwara pupils in national and international contests.

The SUBEB Chairman, Prof Sheu Raheem Adaramaja, said the 2026 promotion exercise has been approved and the exam will hold on October 10.

He said Kwara will be the first state to run its 2026 teachers promotion exercise.

Education Commissioner Dr Lawal Olohungbebe told awardees to keep up the good work.

Keynote speaker and former state NLC Chairman Umar Farooq said backing teachers is an investment in children and society.

The state NUT Chairman, Yusuf Wahab Agboola, thanked the government for its support and asked it to adopt the national harmonised retirement age for teachers.