Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, on Tuesday said his administration did not owe teachers, workers or pensioners any salary arrears, pensions or gratuities, citing leadership by example.
Idris, who spoke at the ongoing 59th (8th Quadrennial) National Conference of Delegates of the Nigeria Union of Teachers at the International Conference Centre, Enugu, said his government had maintained an up-to-date payment status for workers’ salaries, pensions, gratuities and death benefits across the state, local government areas and local government education authorities.
“We are really doing something different in Kebbi State with regard to growth of education and the welfare of teachers. We don’t owe salaries, we don’t owe pensions and we don’t owe gratuity,” he said.
He added, “Our emphasis is on leadership by example. That’s why we are maintaining an up-to-date payment status for workers’ salaries, pensions, gratuities and death benefits across state, local government levels and local government education authorities.”
The governor said his administration had absorbed over 5,000 professional workers, including teachers, medical personnel and lawyers, into the permanent civil service to formally eliminate casualisation.
He added that about 6,144 civil servants, including teachers and health workers, were recruited to strengthen the workforce.
Describing primary education as the bedrock of societal advancement, Idris said he had consistently vowed to elevate the status of teachers, declaring that they should not be treated as second-class workers.
He said budgetary allocations were scaled up to drive structural reforms, facilitating the construction, renovation or furnishing of over 2,000 schools, including the commissioning of thousands of pieces of student and teacher furniture.
“We want to ensure our children remain in school. We no longer want out-of-school children in our communities and streets. That’s why we have done the lot we are doing in Kebbi to stem it,” he said.
Recalling his foray into politics, the governor said some people ganged up against him, asking how a teacher could govern a state.
“But the workers ensured that I became the governor. I know I have not disappointed the workers and the people of Kebbi State,” he said.
“Teaching has done so many things for me. That’s why I increased the years of service for teachers from 35 to 40. I have also increased the years of service for doctors; that of other sectors will be touched too. This is the reason why no teacher or worker or pensioner in Kebbi State is owed any salary arrears or pension.”
Earlier in his address, NUT National President, Comrade Audu Amba, raised the alarm over the Federal Government’s plan to concession King’s College, Lagos, to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association under a Public-Private Partnership.
He described the move as a dangerous departure from the principle of public education, an unacceptable form of privatisation of public educational services and a serious threat to the employment security, professional autonomy and workplace rights of teachers.
He called for its immediate suspension and reversal, as well as meaningful consultation with critical stakeholders, including teachers and parents.
Amba also lamented that the Federal Government’s budgetary allocations to education over the years had remained far below the internationally recommended benchmarks of at least 15 to 20 per cent of the national budget, just as he said allocations by most states were abysmally poor.
He noted that many states refused to access their counterpart funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission to aid the provision of essential school infrastructure and instructional resources at the basic education level.
The NUT president appealed to the Federal Government to work with key stakeholders, especially state governments, to ensure the implementation of approved incentives and welfare packages for teachers.
They include payment of a special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools, reintroduction of bursary awards to education students, a special teachers’ pension scheme, career path policies, low-cost houses for teachers in rural areas, loan facilities for agriculture, housing, cars and motorcycles, as well as free tuition and automatic admission for the biological children of teachers.
The conference, themed ‘Deployment of technology and artificial intelligence in education will erode the place of teachers in the classroom: Myth or reality?’ ends on September 30.