Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Fred Ezeh and Charity Nwakaudu Abuja
Oluwaseunpupo Akindele, 40, an indigene of Ayetoro in Ogun State, has been a teacher for 17 years. He is head teacher of a private school in Abuja with 200 students and 40 teachers. He has four other businesses to his credit.
He did the unthinkable recently. Moved by the plight of his colleagues, constantly running to him for help since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, he posted a video on social media, weeping for private school teachers. It instantly went viral like harmattan fire.
Reflecting on the response of Nigerians that moved by his emotional video and reached out to him, he told Daily Sun that until then, he did not know the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was that devastating, adding that people from everywhere called and sent him money to look after himself.
But instead of keeping the material gestures to himself alone, he decided to give back to colleagues who are in dire need. He gave out palliative packages to 120 private school teachers in Kurudu and distributed 115 palliative packages to another set of beneficiaries on July 15 and July 19 respectively.
The son of a fish seller and a farmer, who has been in Abuja for 13 years, Akindele taught in four schools. He said: “We heard in the news that the government was planning to reopen schools for graduating students in Primary 6, JSS3 and SS3. It was exciting news for us teachers who have been at home due to the lockdown and no income.
“I opened up the tutorial centre to clean it up. I ensured adherence to the new norm of maintaining social distancing, provided water and hand sanitizers in preparation to welcome our students preparing for West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, junior WAEC as well as National Examinations Council (NECO).
“On Tuesday that week, I had contact with over 15 male teachers coming to my centre to beg for once or twice and they are not on list of those I normally use. That did not even move me to tears until towards evening when an elderly man approached me and was begging me to give him two periods in a day to teach and normally I pay N500 per period.
“I became so touched when he told me he was a private school teacher that has not been paid due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday of the same week, I saw in the news that the government was no longer reopening the schools and that the schools were closed indefinitely due to the rising cases of the virus. That dampened my spirit more.
“After I had received calls from friends not living in Abuja begging for N2,000, N3,000, graduates whose salaries were N12,000, N15,000 a month, I was moved. I have not been in such a dire situation because of other things I do for extra income. I became really in a bad mood and started crying. I felt I should post on the National Association of Private Schools (NAPS), Abuja WhatsApp group.
“I do not know if it was God that pushed me to do that video but after I did it, my wife was not comfortable. She said ‘please don’t post it, people will make fun of us, they will think we are hungry when we are not.’ But, when I went to my tutorial centre and showed it to some of my teachers, they said this is good and urged me to post it.
“That was how I posted the video to that platform. Immediately, proprietors started commenting and saying they too are in dire need as they cannot afford to pay those working for them. Before I knew it, the video had gone and people have been very supportive of this project.
“Immediately that video went viral, I began to receive calls from well-to-do Nigerians as well as from those in the Diasporas -England, US, Germany, India, Ethiopia. In fact, they became too numerous to mention. They called to confirm if I was really the one in the video. I was advised to do a second video with my name, phone number and account number so that scammers will not hijack it, which I did and posted on social media.
“As at today, I have received close to N1.3 million. When I saw that, my spirit kept telling me that this is not your money. The video was to draw the attention of well-meaning Nigerians to the plight of private school teachers. So, if Nigerians have responded to that cry in that video, I should not be the one keeping the money to myself.
“That was why I called three of my friends, we discussed after which I sent my wife to the market to go and buy foodstuffs to distribute to my colleagues. We had 120 private teachers in attendance on that day. We distributed rice, seasonings, noodles and lots of other things.
“It was a rich package and we added N1,000 each. On that project, we spent N555,000. So, I was left with less than N200,000. I was planning to use some of it to stock up food for my household but after we gave out those things, I started receiving additional money from good spirited Nigerians. I decided that we were going to do another round of distribution to those teachers who did not get the first time.
“There are about 90 of them who registered their names outside the previous 120 beneficiaries. Another 25 persons that did not receive the palliatives have sent in their names. Right now, we have 115 teachers that have indicated interest for the next round of beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are from Jikwoyi, Kurudu, Orozo and Ajata.
“Those ones whose names and numbers are with us, have already received text messages to come get their package on Sunday afternoon. So far, we have spent over a million on this.”
For Akindele, his gesture has not only surpassed his expectations but it has opened doors of glory and opportunities. He has international business connection he kept under wraps for now. The teacher, whose wife and friends back from his home state, Ogun kicked against what they termed embarrassing, is still in shock of how much goodwill he has received:
“I am a father of three and as a couple during this lockdown. We have reached out to people around us, giving out cash and rice to those in need. I told my wife that this is not our money and besides the connections that we have got doing this is worth millions of naira and that alone is enough for us. I have received job offers. I met an elderly woman who has introduced me to a business with international connections.
“I am happy that we are touching lives. Apart from that, a lot of people have started touching the lives of our teachers in different areas, lots of NGOs, individuals have also taken over this, reaching out to private teachers. That was my intention and I am happy with the outcome.
“I never expected the reactions I got, especially from my school proprietor after my video went viral. To be candid, my school proprietor has been a great father. I do not know what I have done to deserve such a high level of respect and trust from him. I have been so afraid that I may lose my job as a result of that video. But when he saw it, he called me and said Akindele, I saw a video from you. He is a Muslim and I am a Christian and I am heading his school.
“He said the leader of the group started asking for my contact. He had to call the leader and inform him that I was the one heading his school. He has been so supportive, so my job is intact, I do not have any problem and he has even contributed to support this initiative.
“Reactions from proprietors were mixed, while others applauded the video, others felt they can only pay when parents pay school fees, which I also share in their plight. Because, running a private school is like cabbage in cabbage out, meaning it is what you get from parents that you can use to pay your teachers. If parents are not paying, teachers cannot be paid. I also share their plight.
“It has always been my passion to help those in need. I must say that the kind of prayers I have received for myself and family have been overwhelming.
“I was almost in tears when I saw some elderly mothers, teaching in private schools, came around to collect the palliatives. I had to knee down before them because of the serious prayers for me. It has been so awesome, prayers, appreciation, notes, have been so great.
“I have a plan to register an NGO to help private school teachers. I am not just going to be giving them things because it is not the best giving them fish, training them how to catch the fish is the best. I want to organise workshops, seminars and trainings because it is high time we teachers began to think outside the box. I have close to four things I do currently that fetch me money and I want to help my colleagues do the same thing as well.
“My targets are those teachers that have retired from private schools and have nobody taking care of them. I have seen people who worked 15, 18 years as private school teachers and thrown out like rags. I want to reach out and change the mentality that teaching in a private school is neither a crime nor a curse. That even if you are not lucky to work in a government school, you can still give your best in a private school.
“I have plans to partner with the Ministry of Education and Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). If a private school teacher spends 10 years and retires, something tangible should be given to him or her. I want to change the way teachers are perceived in Nigeria as my goal and mission.
“My advice to government is to see how these graduating students can sit for their exams. I discovered that private schools could manage this COVID-19 crisis well if given the opportunity.
“Let me use my school as a case study, thinking we will resume in July, we have sown two face masks each for our students and teachers. We have done the recommended spacing already, we have reduced a class of 15 to seven, we infrared thermometer, wash hand basins, soap, hand sanitizers and what have you.”
In Gwarinpa, Abuja, a teacher, Stella, lamented that life has been very tough since the outbreak of the pandemic because schools have closed without salaries from proprietors: “The last salary I collected was in April and it was not even up to half of what they used to pay but they told us it was because of the pandemic.
“I waited for the whole of May, nothing was heard from the school, so I had to start organising lessons for children around my area. I used to collect N500 a week per child but paying it is also another issue as most parents are also complaining of the hardship.
“As I speak, I am still contemplating leaving the home lessons to start a (mama put) food vendor business because parents are not paying. What is the essence of struggling without being paid.”
Another private school teacher, Eneh Goodness, from Kuje, Abuja, said: “It is now I understood clearly that being a private school teacher is equivalent to being unemployed. After months without getting anything, I decided to start a private lesson.
“I have only six children and they pay N50 per day, if you calculate it, it is just like am not doing anything. I am a single mother with two children. Is it this that will sustain us? I am really tired, if nothing is done, some of us will die of hunger before normal school resume.”
Monica Godwin, another private school teacher in Jabi, Abuja, said: “I pity people who are on same profession with their spouses. I wonder what life would be like for them comparing what I have in my home not minding that my husband is into business. He is the one footing the whole bills now. It is not really easy for him because even business is now very slow due to lack of money.”
President of NAPST, Augustine Akhigbe, disclosed that since the closure of schools in March, private school teachers have not been paid their monthly salaries:
“A good number of private school teachers were last paid in February. The closure of schools for the whole of third term of 2019/2020 academic session means that since there is no tuition payment, obviously, salaries for months running will not be paid also.
“Obviously, private school teachers are facing difficult times with no hope in sight, as to when the lockdown on schools will be lifted. Federal and states governments have not considered private school teachers a group that deserves palliatives whereas they are the group of vulnerable Nigerians.
“In reality, over 100,000 families of private school teachers, most especially where both husband and wife are private school teachers, are unable to feed their families and cannot pay basic bills.
“Private schools in Nigeria do not receive government subventions. They rely solely on tuition payments. More often than not, salaries are not paid as at when due. Hence, apart from underpayment, private school teachers in Nigeria also have to contend with the issue of delay in monthly payment of their entitlements.
“Some schools don’t pay teachers for the period schools observed holidays. It is that bad. Despite the outstanding contributions of private school teachers to the education sector, they work without gratuity, complete absence of job security, none or irregular remittance of pension deductions, in addition to exposure to all sorts of unfavourable conditions of service.”