A group of teachers in Kwara state under the aegis of ‘Concerned Teachers in Kwara” have called on the State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Musa Abubakar to declare strike action this week should government fail to attend to their plight.
The concerned teachers who were drawn form the 16 local government areas of the State converged at the NUT secretariat, Asa Dam road Ilorin, on Tuesday to ventilate their grievances in respect of their unpaid backlog salaries and arrears.
Speaking with newsmen at the secretariat while awaiting the arrival of the state NUT executives, Mr Folorunsho Abdulwahab said the teachers in the state were undergoing serious problems due to the non payment of their salaries and called on the leadership of their union in the state to take the bull by the horn so as to get them out the lingering financial crisis.
In his reaction also, Mr Abdulhameed Alaaya expressed satisfaction with the step taken by the national body of the NUT by asking all the concerned 10 states with salary arrears to go on strike of which kwara is included, and expressed why the NUT leaders in the state declined the directive of the national body.
Alaaya said the State owed them over 5 months salary arrears against the three months as announced by the national body.
He explained that the state has not paid the March, April and May salaries of 2016 plus the 292 per cent outstanding arrears.
Also speaking, Mr Kadiri Onaolapo appealed to the state government to be sensitive to the plight of teachers, saying that teachers are facing serious intimidation and frustration in the state.
He called on the state government to also address the issue of salary disparity among teachers in the state, saying that the idea is not good for the growth and development of education sector in the state.
End
