Indefinite Strike: Primary School Teachers’ Are Dying Of Heart Attack Over Percentage Payment—-NUT Chairman

Rabiu Omaku

• We are on percentage Payment since January 2015

“Our teachers are dying of heart attack over percentage payment, we can no longer afford even feeding our families, not to talk of transporting ourselves to our various duty post, this in addition foisted teachers to abandon their responsibility.”

The state chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers’ , Comrade Tete Francis Jatau gave the hint while addressing teachers before the acting chairman of the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board, Yakubu Ahmed Ubangari at the headquarter of the board.

NUT decried the rising spate of percentage payment to teachers in the state, saying percentage payment has been existing since January 2015,the protesting teachers insisted that the salary of primary school teachers should be shifted from Local Government to NSUBEB.

The acting chairman of the board, Yakubu Ahmed Ubangari while addressing teachers at his office appealed to them to be law abiding citizens ,as he promised to forward NUT complain to the right authority.

ALGON chairman and the Sole Administrator of Lafia Local Government, Suleiman Wambai attributed percentage payment to successive administrations recklessness, appealing to primary school teachers to remain calm.

Wambai promised the NUT that their complain would be channeled to the appropriate authority, in an interview with selected journalist ,the sole administrator says embarking on strike would not compel the state government to make a U-turn as he identified the current economic meltdown as a major hiccups to percentage payment.

Suleiman Wambai blamed Federal and state government over the woes of the third tier of government, saying Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee that the percentage payment should continue.

“The worst state that cannot pay workers salary are Osun, Ekiti, Benue, Plateau, he listed some of the Local governments are Akwanga, Lafia, Nasarawa Eggon and Doma Local governments cannot settle her workers salary since we parted ways with brother-keepers”

Adding that the brother-keeper was a way of augmenting workers salary from other Local governments, he opined, the NUT stay at home protest was the third of its kind in three weeks, the first was the ongoing strike embarked by the Nigeria Medical Association followed by JUSUN.

Also Joint Union of Tertiary institutions of Nigeria  has given an ultimatum to embark on strike if the state government review their salary downward, It could be recalled that the workers in the state ousted the successive regime of governor Aliyu Akwe Doma’s second term bid.

The state under Doma was plunged into series of protest and strike action which led to the closure of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital spread across all sectors of the state.

According to a wise saying by the then member Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Hon.Mohammed Baba Ibaku averred that the falling of a dry leaf should be a warning to a fresh leaf, only time shall tell.