National president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Audu Titus Amba, has condemned state governments owing primary school teachers, salaries running into several months in spite of the current harsh economic situation in the country.
He, however, called on the federal government to through constitutional amendment, make the first 9-year of basic education a core responsibility of the state governments to address the challenge of non-payment of salaries of teachers by the local government councils.
Amba spoke at 1st Quadrennial delegates conference of the Federal Wing of NUT holding at the Teachers House, Lugbe, Abuja.
He said, “I urge the minister of education to lend his voice through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by urging them to cause an amendment in the 1999 Constitution, whereby the first nine years of basic education should be made a core responsibility of the state governments instead of the local government councils.
“It is only when the funding of basic education is made a core constitutional responsibility of state governments that the toxic phenomenon of nonpayment of primary school teachers’ salaries will be a thing of the past across the states of the federation,” he said.
He said the theme of the conference, “Teacher Welfare: The Catalyst for Educational Change in Nigeria,” encapsulates the essence and significance of the teacher as the fulcrum, upon which the mill of education process and industry revolves.
While lamenting the backlogs of salaries and promotion arrears owed both federal and state teachers, the NUT president insisted that welfare of teachers must be given a top priority in the policies and programmes of all the tiers of government in the country, if the vision for the future of education in Nigeria would be meaningfully realised.
He underscored the vital role that teachers play as agents of change and the cornerstone of educational development in any progressive clime.
The chairman of NUT, Federal Wing, Comrade Alex Emeka Okonta, on his part lamented that teachers of Federal Government Colleges (Unity Schools), have been owed accumulated arrears ranging from promotion, 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation, some months’ salary arrears of both elongated officers and newly recruited teachers.
