Higher salaries and better working conditions abroad are drawing experienced Nigerian teachers away from private schools, worsening an already fragile sector grappling with rising operating costs and poor management.
As schools struggle to retain qualified staff while meeting escalating expenses, many are scaling back operations or shutting down entirely, raising concerns about the future of private education in the country.
Elizabeth Ohaka, a school owner, emphasised that the environment is toxic to school business owners. ‘With teacher scarcity and overhead costs on an astronomical increase, it is tough navigating the path of school business,’ she said.
According to the Education International 2025 report, Nigeria’s deep-rooted education crisis is being exacerbated by the loss of its teachers. Over 20 million children are out-of-school, yet classrooms lie empty.
As the teacher recruitment and retention crisis deepens globally, many countries, such as the UK, Canada, and Germany, among others, have intensified efforts to recruit overseas-trained teachers (OTTs).
In 2025, the UK granted Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) to 5,230 overseas teachers (a 28 percent year-over-year jump), with thousands being from Nigeria. Canada also attracts hundreds of licensed Nigerian educators annually.
The teacher exodus and other concomitant challenges such as mismanagement and operational costs, among others, have pushed many school owners to wind down the business.
Recently, a children’s school at Ojudu Estate Phase II, Lagos, announced it is winding down after 30 years of existence.
‘It is with a heart full of mixed emotions that I write to inform you that your school, Children School, will permanently close for school activities at the end of the current academic year,’ the letter read in part.
BusinessDay survey shows that many other schools in Nigeria have shut down and/or sold out the business to another entrepreneur as a result of the high cost of operation.
A top-notch school in the Isolo suburb of Lagos State was sold to another person because the initial owner migrated to Canada for greener pastures, handing over the management to a staff member, who was alleged to have mismanaged the business.
Another school was sold because the owner could not retain the qualified teachers, as they left for better-paying jobs abroad. Besides, there are reports of some teachers who migrated to other careers due to poor salaries and the downtrodden status of the teaching profession in Nigeria.
The steady migration of Nigerian educators to the United Kingdom and Canada has reached alarming levels, with over 2,655 teachers relocating abroad between 2022 and 2025, leaving many schools struggling to stay open amid worsening staff shortages.
Unfortunately, teachers are among the lowest-paid professionals in the country. A graduate public-school teacher in some states earns as low as N70,000 per month, which is roughly $45 to $50.