he Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Bayelsa State at the weekend suspended its four-week old strike over unpaid backlog of seven months salaries and other sundry issues plaguing the education sub-sector in the state.
Kalama Toinpre, the state NUT chairman, who announced the suspension of the action in a statement on Saturday in Yenagoa, said public schools in the state would now resume on Monday 17 October 2016 for the new academic session.
He explained that the decision followed intervention by the state House of Assembly, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and some elders and parents of underprivileged children.
He said that the intervention resulted in a “collective agreement” reached between the state government and the NUT.
Toinpre listed the resolutions to included payment of teachers’ monthly salaries as first priority, and that teachers would be brought to be at par with other workers in the state when the government receives revenue allocation for the month of September.
Henceforth, principals of secondary schools would prepare payment vouchers after being trained, and the payment of teachers’ salaries would be made through schools account.
A committee comprising NUT representatives would be set up to look into the issue of dismissal of teachers employed in 2008-2009, the implementation of annual incremental steps for primary school teachers and its financial implications, and forward report to the government.
Also, the government would address without delay the issue of N18,000 minimum wage arrears owed teachers when revenue improves.
According to the statement, another committee involving representatives of the state Ministries of Education and Local Government Administration, Executive Secretary of SUBEB, NUT and chairmen of local government councils, would be instituted to resolve the issue of promotion of primary school teachers.
The NUT chairman therefore assured all teachers of the union’s commitment to having the lingering issues resolved despite distractions by some group of teachers in the education sub-sector, adding that the struggle for the rights and welfare of teachers would be continually upheld.
