Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has urged members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers not to embark on their planned strike so as not to cripple the nation's education sector.

He also described education as the bedrock of the development of any society.

Ahmed spoke on Thursday in Ilorin ahead of the World Teachers Day celebration where the leadership of the NUT will bestow on him the "Governor of the Year."

The WTD holds every October 5.

The NUT National President, Michael Olukoya, said last week that his members would embark on strike if the Federal Government failed to address the grievances of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

 Lecturers in the nation's public universities have been on strike since July 1 to protest against the non-implementation of an agreement that they signed with the FG in 2009.

The governor, who urged NUT members not to go on strike, said the action would affect the education sector negatively.

According to him, what the country needs now is the cooperation of all stakeholders in order to revamp the education sector.

Ahmed, also named the "Senior Advocate of Teachers" by the state NUT, said teachers were instruments of educational development and national growth.

The governor, who said there was the need to give teachers' welfare priority, noted that education standards would be low without a well-motivated and knowledgeable teaching workforce.

It was against this backdrop that he said his administration had approved a special teaching allowance for teachers in the state.

So far, the state government, he added, had spent N113m for the exercise.

He also explained that the creation of the Educational Resource Centre had helped in the training of science teachers in the state.

The governor, who said about 4,200 teachers benefitted from N3bn car loan given to civil servants in the state, added that his administration had promoted over 12,000 primary and secondary school teachers in the state.

He, therefore, urged teachers in the state to reciprocate the government's gesture by being more committed to pursuing excellence and delivering quality education.