Teaching in Nigeria is two different markets wearing the same title. A private school in Lekki and a state secondary school in Bauchi hire differently, pay differently and ask different questions. Applying to both with the same CV is why so many teachers hear nothing.
Private schools: the real numbers
Private school salaries in Nigeria run roughly ₦80,000 to ₦180,000 a month, with the top of that band in established international and British-curriculum schools in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. A handful of elite schools pay well above it, and they hire on a different bar entirely.
- Small private schools: ₦70,000–₦120,000, often without pension or HMO.
- Established private schools: ₦120,000–₦200,000, usually with some benefits.
- International schools: ₦250,000 and up, requiring a teaching qualification and often a proven exam record.
TRCN: why it keeps coming up
The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria is the professional regulator. Registration and a practising licence are increasingly required by serious private schools and are mandatory in the public system. If you intend to teach for more than a couple of years, get registered early — the process is straightforward but slow.
Public schools
State teaching recruitment is episodic and usually announced by the State Universal Basic Education Board or the state teaching service commission. Places are competitive, the process is long, and there is no legitimate route that involves paying anyone.
The demo lesson decides most interviews
Almost every private school will ask you to teach a short lesson — usually ten to fifteen minutes, often to a panel pretending to be pupils. What they are watching for is not subject mastery. It is whether you can hold a room.
- 1Open with a question, not with your name. Get the room talking in the first thirty seconds.
- 2Write on the board as you go. It shows you can manage the physical space.
- 3Use one concrete example a Nigerian child would recognise — a market, a bus fare, a football league table.
- 4Check understanding twice, by name: “Chidi, what did I just say?”
- 5Close with a summary line and one question they should be able to answer.
Bring a one-page lesson plan even if nobody asks. Handing it over at the start signals that you plan your work, which is the single thing a school cares most about.
What to put on a teaching CV
- Subjects and levels you can teach, precisely — “Mathematics, JSS1–SS3” beats “Mathematics”.
- Exam results where you have them: “WAEC Maths pass rate 92%, up from 61%”.
- Class sizes you have managed, and any SEN experience.
- TRCN number, if registered.
- Co-curricular roles — debate, sports, choir. Schools hire for the whole timetable.
The paperwork behind the classroom
Teaching in Nigeria is two jobs. The visible one is the lesson; the invisible one is the file. Most private schools expect a scheme of work for the term, lesson notes for every period, a record of work showing what you actually taught, and continuous assessment scores entered before the deadline. A head of department will check the notes weekly, and an inspector from the state ministry will check them without warning.
The marking load is where new teachers are caught out. A class of forty with three subjects and a weekly test is 120 scripts a week, before homework and exam papers. Ask what the school's marking policy is — daily, weekly, fortnightly — and whether teachers are given free periods for it. A school that cannot answer that question has never thought about it.
- Class size. Forty is workable. Sixty with no assistant is a different job from the one advertised.
- Subjects and periods. Three subjects across six classes is a full load; six subjects is a warning sign.
- Holiday pay. Some private schools pay only during term time. Confirm the twelve-month figure, not the term figure.
- TRCN support. Good schools pay for or reimburse registration and licence renewal. Ask.
None of this is a reason to avoid private schools. It is the information you need to compare two offers that both say “competitive salary”.