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Nigeria: NUT Strike - Senate Education Committee Meets Yar'Adua
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Vanguard (Lagos)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 4 July 2008
Emmanuel Aziken, Victor-Ahiuma-Young & Chris Ochayi
THE Senate Committee on Education yesterday gave notice to the Senate of its ongoing mediation in the strike action by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) saying it has scheduled a meeting with President Umaru Yar'Adua to break the strike. The chairman of the Committee, Senator Joy Emodi upon a point of order during yesterday's plenary session disclosed that her Committee had talks with both the striking teachers and the executive arm of government and was now set to meet with the President to resolve the crisis.
She said the meeting with the President is to set modalities that would guide the implementation of the Teachers Salaries Scale (TSS) approved for Federal Government teachers.
She said that the Senate Committee would seek President Yar'Adua's co-operation in the immediate implementation of the TSS as she noted that the funds were provided for in the 2008 budget.
The Committee had earlier issued a statement underlining its concern on the crisis.
Meanwhile, the four days old national strike took a new turn yesterday as the All Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) spoke in support of the striking teachers.
The association said it is worried "by the lack of positive response by the Federal Government to the demand of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)."
In statement signed by its president, Nzemeka Olisa and National Secretary, Halilu Iliyasu, the principals appealed to the Federal Govern-ment to "urgently accede to the demand of the Nigeria Union of Teachers for the issuance of a circular, so that the implementation of the Teachers' Salary Structure can commence at the federal level, as a starting point."
It stated further that: "ANCOPSS reaffirm its full and unflinching support for the demand and action of the NUT on behalf of the generality of Nigerian primary and secondary school teachers. As principals of secondary schools, we appreciate the damage, which poor remunerations and under-motivation have continued to inflict on the school system. Teachers' welfare is the key to improvement of standards, the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, and realisation of Nigeria's overall development aspirations".
The principals said, "The TSS is a necessary step that should follow the professionalization of the teaching profession. We believe that the Federal Government has the duty to set standards that States and other providers of education have to follow. This is not to suggest that the Federal Government should fix wages for states".
Meanwhile the NUT has directed its members to remain steadfast and carry on with the strike.
Teachers' strike: FG's stand
ALHAJI Ibrahim Nakande, Minister of State for Information and Communication, says the Federal Government cannot impose a salary structure on other tiers of government, due to deregulation of the sector.
He made the clarification yesterday in Abuja while commenting on the ongoing strike by teachers at a retreat for members of BPE's publicity/mobilisation and marketing committee.
Nakande declared: "The Federal Government does not have responsibility for paying salaries of school teachers in the states.
"There is the need to respect the responsibility of each tier of government to pay the salaries of its staff in line with its ability to pay.
"For instance, what the Jigawa Government pays its teachers is above what the Federal Government is proposing to pay its teachers."
The minister explained that the apparent lack of understanding of the freedom of employers of labour at all tiers of government, was responsible for "the avoidable strike action".
He said the Federal Government had enough money to pay its 12,000-strong teachers and education officers in the 102 unity schools.
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Commenting on the future of unity schools, Nakande said the Federal Government was looking into the philosophy behind their establishment, "to see whether or not the basis for their existence is still there. "In truth, all staff in the unity schools are education officers, who can be deployed back to the ministry, where they still have their files," he added.
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