Emmanuel Edukugho
3 July 2008
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) which declared a nationwide strike Monday over implementation of approved Teachers Salary Structure (TSS) for primary and secondary school teachers has given reasons why it embarked on the action.
*NUT felt discriminated against because while separate salary structures had been approved for other sectors that started their struggles much more later, that of the teachers, the quintessential Nation Builders are neglected and abandoned. The Union cited the following examples:
(a) The Cookey Commission recommended a University Salary Structure (USS) for both Academic and Non-Academic workers in Nigerian Universities. This has since come to stay and was fully implemented by the Federal Government.
(b) Medical Salary Structure (MSS) was approved for the medical practitioners.
(c) Health Salary Structure (HSS) was approved for other workers in the Health sector, including Nurses.
(d) Recently, a separate salary structure was approved for the police. All these were approved and implemented with several reviews by the Federal Government.
That after a lull on the part of the Federal Government, the NUT went through the process to renew its demand for a Teachers' Salary Structure (TSS) and processed a memorandum through the National Council on Education (NCE), which eventually approved the implementation in Yenagoa in 2003.
The then Minister of Education; Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, under Chief Oluscgun Obasanjo's administration presented an executive memo in 2007 for the approval of the TSS to the Federal Executive Council which referred the subject to the National Incomes, Salaries and Wages Commission.
The commission submitted its report over a year ago without result. Teachers have been fed ever since, with discordant tunes on who is actually holding on to the report.
*NUT has exhausted all legal, professional and bureaucratic procedures toward the implementation of a separate salary structure for her teeming members.
As the last resort, the NUT embarked on the strike because:
(i) Nigerian teachers have waited for too long and their patience has run out.
(ii) The Federal Government under the regime of General Sani Abacha had approved TSS, butsuccessive governments had reneged on its implementation, even when holding its relevance in principle.
(iii) UBE and global clamour for Education For All has become a veritable instrument of social and
political mobilization and economic development and its actualization rests squarely on the teachers, who should be motivated enough to carry out their duties.
The NUT NEC-in-session assured that there is no going back on TSS implementation and commended teachers for their patience and determination to actualize TSS.
The union expressed total objection to the manner the governments of Nigeria are treating teachers and handling the issues of the TSS.
That TSS be implemented based on parameters already worked out between NUT and federal and state governments through the National Council on Education; assented by the National Incomes, Salaries and Wages Commission.
NUT demands that a proper administrative instrument (establishment circular) which will create the TSS as a distinct and substantive package exclusively for primary and secondary school teachers all over the country.
The circular should contain a detail table of salaries and allowances for primary and secondary school teachers of all grades and allowances and an inbuilt periodic self-adjustment mechanism.
NUT Lagos state chairman, Comrade Mike Alogba Olukoya pleaded with the Nigerian people to appeal to the conscience of the nation to desist from undermining the primary institution for national development, saying, "no nation grows above the education of its people and no education develops above the satisfaction of teachers,"S
Since the strike started on Monday it has paralysed activities in public schools nationwide according to Vanguard investigation.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. 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.
