4 July 2008
The decision, by the Nigerian Union of Teachers, to picket private schools in pursuance of its nationwide strike action has obviously drawn the ire of the federal government. Minister of Information John Odey came down hard on the teachers, issuing a stern warning to them to desist from trying the picketing option, as it could cause a breakdown of law and order, which no reasonable government would allow to occur.
The NUT response to this warning was to say that picketing is an instrument of enforcing strike action as provided for in section 42 of the Trade Unions Act. According to NUT president Onem Nelson Onem "We advise both ministers of education and information to receive proper guidance from the Attorney-General so that they will appreciate that picketing is lawful. We will take full advantage of the law in furtherance of this struggle". Already taking a cue from the NUT position, the Kano chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had picketed about 50 private schools in the municipality on Tuesday.
We appreciate the fact that the teachers' demands are legitimate and that the government should have done its best to avoid the present strike action by simply issuing the circular the NUT sought for, but we hasten to say that the NUT must exercise caution where the picketing option is concerned because if it forces teachers in private schools to toe its line unwillingly, then it could indeed lead to a breakdown of law and order when some try to resist.
So far public opinion is on the side of NUT. Most prominent and well-meaning voices are calling on the government to listen to the teachers and agree to their demands. The NUT must not squander this goodwill by embarking on an action with the potential of disturbing the public peace.
Both through their warning strike and the on-going indefinite strike, their point has been well-made that the teachers are serious about seeking better working conditions and will not back out till something concrete had been achieved.
It is now up to the government to treat this crisis with the necessary urgency it deserves. Like this paper observed last week, the importance of teachers in a society cannot be overemphasized and no society can rise above the quality of its teachers. For this and all the other reasons advanced by the NUT, the federal government should issue that circular on the new Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) with immediate effect and urge states to honour the deal.
We are aware of the fact that the constitution for now does not give the federal government the right to force states to adopt the TSS but seeing the way states agreed to the federal government's suggestion to take some percentage of the excess crude proceeds and use it to fund the power emergency, we know it is possible for them to do it again.
Rather than get ready to use force against the teachers if they picket private schools, the federal government should convince the state governments to come together and take a stand to implement the TSS immediately without recourse to the long process the Education Minister said is necessary before the TSS comes into being.
Daily Trust believes that if an emergency in the power sector could cause such a cooperative measure between the two tiers of government, given the will, the same can be achieved with regards to the NUT demand, which is itself an emergency in the education sector.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. 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.
