Victor Nze
3 July 2008
Lagos — Minister of State for Education, Dr. Jerry Agada, has debunked allegations that the federal government was deliberately insensitive to the demands of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) during its three-day warning strike which forced them to embark on the present indefinite strike action.
In an interview with Daily Champion, yesterday, Dr. Agada said it was not true that the federal government delibearately ignored the three-day warning strike by Nigerian teachers, stressing that government had been dialoguing with teachers right from the first day of the warning strike, last week.
"It would be erroneous to say government ignored the warning strike. Right from the time information reached us about the warning strike, we have been dialoguing with the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT); only that we did not reach a conclusion with regards to fulfilling the demands that were at stake within the period of the warning strike. But we made it clear to the NUT that there was no need for any strike; for the fact that we were dialoguing," said Agada.
According to Agada, who also doubles as National Vice President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the fact, that education is on the concurrent list of the federal constitution of Nigeria, states have the authority to legislate on issues pertaining to education in their states from primary schools, through secondary to tertiary institutions.
"For that reason it will be unconstitutional for the federal government to issue circular directing states on what to pay their teachers as salaries and allowances. In other words, various states branches of NUT have every right to negotiate with their state governments what they want them to pay the teachers," he said.
Continuing, Agada said that against the backdrop of the fact, there were also teachers in the federal service, and that government recognises the right to fix salaries for them, "but at the same time government is having a service-wide look as far as salaries are concerned, so that a proper and long lasting arrangement can be made in such a way that teachers and other workers will be happy."
He, therefore, appealed to the striking teachers to legitimately make their demands in view of the on-going discussions with the federal government in order to arrive at an agreeable conclusion.
"The conclusion is that teachers have a legitimate right to ask for what they are asking, but I am appealing to them to do it in a legitimate way, so that in the course of arriving at any conclusion, government would not be seen as violating the constitution of which it is the custodian," said Agada.
He reiterated the decision by government to follow the path of dialogue as the best strategy in resolving the industrial action by Nigerian teachers which started in the week, just as he appealed to "various state governments to take members of the NUT in their states into confidence with a view to negotiating with them for better salaries and conditions of service in keeping with constitutional provisions."
"Dialogue is the only way to resolve the strike; Dialogue and consultations, as I have stated earlier. Government is meeting and discussing the situation and making the points clear with the hope that at the end of the day, both parties will come to an amicable understanding and have the problem resolved once and for all. I still repeat that strike is not the best strategy in resolving the matter." Agada stressed.
It would be recalled that teachers under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), last Monday, embarked on an indefinite industrial action after the expiration of a three-day warning strike last week.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
