Aideloje Ojo
15 July 2008
Minna — Over 16,000 teachers in Niger State will be dismissed if the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) insists on the implementation of the Teachers Salary Structure (TSS) over which the union has declared a national strike.
The state governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, gave this condition yesterday in Minna when he declared open a meeting of Stakeholders Education Sector Plan.
Aliyu said out of the 22,000 primary school teachers in the state, only 7,000 were qualified, adding that the remaining 15,000 unqualified teachers would not be entitled to enjoy the TSS.
He said at the secondary school level, 1,000 teachers out of 3,000 presently in the employment of government would also have to go because they were unqualified and not entitled to benefit from the salary structure being demanded by the union.
"In Niger State, we have 22,000 primary teachers out of which only 7,000 are qualified. Even if we are to adopt the TSS, only the qualified teachers are entitled to enjoy it. The remaining 15,000 would not be qualified to enjoy it. It means that we have to dismiss these unqualified teachers", he said.
He said his administration would have to embark on such exercise because of the lean resources of the state which cannot support such huge financial implication of the new salary structure being demanded by the union.
The governor said he was sure that the union, as a responsible body that works for the interest and protection of its members, would not want a situation that would make its members to lose their jobs.
"I don't think that any trade union will allow the dismissal of its members. NUT must know that their primary responsibility is to protect the job of the members, because without jobs there would be no members", he said.
He appealed to the striking teachers to return to the class rooms in the interest of the children and the development of education.
Speaking earlier, the state's Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Asma'u Usman described the objective of the forum to include the repositioning of the education sector in the state. She expressed the hoped that the forum would bridge the gap between stakeholders in the education sector.
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Why fire people who are asking for their rights? Why not keep them and train them to acquire these certificates(if the certificates mean anything at all)? Where will you get replacements for these teachers? From IMO State? yrs PKOwi(Prof Math)