We still have unpaid teachers, supporting staff,

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has reminded the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that some teachers and supporting staff in the state government’s employment, have not been paid their salaries for several months.

The union’s chairman in Chikun Local Government Area of the state, Comrade Cyrus Hassan, gave the reminder on the sidelines of a one-day digital conference in Kaduna tagged “Dignity of a Teacher,” organized by Uncle Focus Educational Consults and General Contracts Limited.

According to him, the administration has tried its best in training teachers to make them good at what they do, but teachers in the state are lagging in terms of welfare.

Hassan added: “This administration has tried its best to train teachers and let the teachers know what to do.

“Teachers are lagging in terms of welfare but we want to thank God that there are teachers who are getting one or two incentives like leave grants.

“We have teachers that have not been getting salaries. Some of them who were having certificate issues have been cleared. We still have some teachers who have not been paid in Chikun, even when the approval to that effect has been given.

“I want to also let you know that there are those that are supporting the educational sector, especially the facilities like the security men and nannies, who have not been paid.

“By April this year, they will be two years without salary. They were duly engaged with letters. About 300 teachers have not been paid by Chikun local government alone. We all know that every labourer deserves his pay,” he said.

Speaking on the relevance of the conference to the teaching profession, the acting executive secretary Chikun local council, Mrs. Sarah Atu Nimyo, described it as timely because the dignity of teachers is fast eroding due to several reasons.

“When the organizers approached me with the topic, I saw that it would be good for our teachers in Chikun because it has to do with upgrading them digitally. For example, a teacher needs to be reminded that he needs to promote his dignity without waiting for the government or anyone else.

“Because of how important this conference is, I engaged the local government authority and secured their approval because we all know that we need to know the value in the teaching profession and this is one of the channels for them to add that value to what they do,” she explained.

On his part, lead consultant and co-founder of Uncle Focus Educational Consults and General Contract Limited, Ziniyet Godwin Hillary, said his organization arrived at the conference topic after due diligence across the state and country as a whole.

He said, “This conference was inspired by the various engagements we had with teachers in 2022. We engaged over 1,500 teachers in public and private schools in the state and we realized that there is uniformity in their crying as teachers.

“That , how their dignity has been trampled upon. They are our heroes and we need to celebrate them. This is why we are here to talk about the issues that affect them as they teach.

“We have experts to handle topics like the role of teachers in the nation building, the role of teachers in civic participation, the dignity of a teacher, and how a teacher can leverage technology to make his work easy and effective in schools and classrooms.

“A lot of teachers are behind in using technology to do their work. Kaduna is a pilot state and we are covering the whole 23 local government areas. We are targeting at least 2,000 teachers both from public and private schools per local government and we have dedicated this year to do that in Kaduna State alone,” he added.