A non-governmental organisation, Greening Education Partnership (GEP) Nigeria, in collaboration with the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), has pledged to train over 500,000 teachers across the country within the next five years. The initiative aims to equip educators with the skills, values, and attitudes needed to tackle climate change and foster sustainable development.

Greening Education Partnership (GEP) is a global initiative designed to make education systems climate resilient while promoting environmental consciousness at all levels of learning. The announcement was made following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between GEP Nigeria and the NCCE on May 22, 2025, at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Engineer Rahman O. Magaji, the National Focal Person for GEP, emphasized that the initiative will focus on training a mix of educators, including both in-service and pre-service teachers. He explained that the rollout will begin in six pilot states, one from each of Nigeria's six geopolitical zones, ensuring a broad and inclusive national reach.

Magaji highlighted that GEP adopts a whole-of-society approach to addressing climate change through education. He further explained that the initiative is anchored on four strategic pillars: Greening Schools, Greening Curriculum, Greening Teacher Training, and Greening Communities all interconnected through the teacher education sector.

Speaking on the significance of the collaboration, Magaji described the partnership with NCCE as crucial to achieving the initiative’s ambitious target. “This partnership with NCCE is a very strategic collaboration in achieving our set objective of empowering 500,000 teachers in five years,” he stated.

Responding, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Professor Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, described the partnership with the Greening Education Partnership (GEP) as both timely and strategic. He emphasized that as the global climate crisis intensifies, there is an urgent need to equip educators with the skills, knowledge, and values necessary to address climate change through education.

Professor Okwelle commended the GEP for its holistic approach, which includes greening schools, curricula, teacher training, and communities. He stressed that this aligns closely with NCCE's mandate to produce quality teachers who can drive sustainable development. He further noted that integrating climate education into teacher training would empower future educators to become active agents of environmental transformation.

Professor Okwelle, however, reaffirmed the Commission’s full support for the initiative and its commitment to working collaboratively to achieve the ambitious goal of training 500,000 climate-ready teachers across Nigeria within five years.