Ekiti NUT orders members to shun duty over unpaid salaries

• Oyo teachers blame govt for mass failure in exams

AS teachers and students of Ekiti State public and private schools are expected to resume for the 2014/2015 session Wednesday, the state chapter of the Nigeria Union Teachers (NUT) has directed its members to shun their duty posts until the August and September salaries, as well as the July deduction are remitted.

Also, the NUT in Oyo State yesterday blamed the state government for the mass failure of pupils in the recently held senior school certificate examination, accusing it of failure to recruit teachers into the primary and secondary schools in the state despite that many had since retired.

The Ekiti State NUT Chairman, Samuel Akosile, who spoke to journalists Tuesday in Ado Ekiti wondered why government paid other workers and exempt the teachers.

The state government, until last week Wednesday owed all the workers August and September salaries, but others have been paid except teachers as at yesterday.

The NUT leader added that the government has no justification to ask its members to resume duties when they are being owed two months salaries and other allowances, while other workers,

particularly at the local councils and civil service have been paid up to September.

Teachers in the state were supposed to resume for the 2014/2015 session on September 17, but this was later postponed to prevent the spread of the dreaded Ebola disease in the country.

Akosile said the body has no option than to continue with the strike embarked upon by other civil servants in the state last Thursday over similar agitation.

The Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) Chairman, Johnson Oladipupo, yesterday said other civil servants in state ministries, departments and agencies would also continue with the strike because of government’s recalcitrant position on the payment of all outstanding allowances.

He said the payment of August salary to his members was not enough for government to compel them to return to work, saying, “we would return to work only when all outstanding entitlements are paid.”

Oladipupo also dissociated his members from any planned streets protest against Governor Fayemi, calling on the Police Commissioner Mr. Taiwo Lakanu to arrest anybody found disrupting the peace of the state.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, who responded to the workers’ position, pleaded for understanding, claiming that Fayemi’s government has been reacting promptly to the payment of workers’ dues until the June 21 governorship election.

Ekundayo clarified that the banks became unwilling to give facilities based on threats from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it would not take responsibility for repayment when the governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose is installed.

The NUT boss said, “How can we go back to work when we are being cheated? We cannot pretend that all is well when my people are dying in silence. As we speak now, my people have not received August and September salaries, as well as deductions on July salary.”

Secretary of Oyo State NUT, Waheed Olojede identified shortage of teachers as one of the various factors responsible for the woeful performance of students in this year’s West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The NUT chief subsequently urged Governor Abiola Ajimobi to make good his administration’s promise to employ over 2,000 teachers into the schools to improve the level of education in the state.

Olojede spoke while featuring on a private radio interview ahead of resumption of schools today across the state.

Stressing that it would not be fair to completely blame the teachers, parents and students for the dismal performance, Olojede said, “a situation where a teacher is handling students who are supposed to be handled by two or three teachers, what miracle could one expect from him?

“For the past five or six years, many teachers had retired, but there have not been new teachers recruited to replace them. This is one of the problems contributing to the dismal performance of many students and pupils in our public schools.

“All the successive governments have always been making budgets, claiming that education had been allotted the ‘lion share’, but how much of the budget eventually goes into education development in practical form?” he asked.

The union leader urged the press to beam searchlight on government finances with regard to how the budget has been performing in the area of education vis-a-vis other sectors of the economy.

“If there are sufficient teachers as well as adequate provision of other infrastructural facilities, the standard of our education would improve.”

Olojede therefore urged Governor Ajimobi to without delay employ the teachers promised, in order to turn around the fortune of the state in the area of education standard.