From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A sizeable number out of about 7,600 new teachers in Kaduna State have decried non-payment of about eight months’ salaries by the state government.
Shortly after Governor Nasir El-Rufai declared a state of emergency in the education sector in the state during his October 1, 2015, Independence address at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, scores of “unqualified” teachers were relieved of their jobs. His action generated a lot of controversy within and outside the state then.
As a result, it became necessary to recruit newly qualified teachers to teach in the over 4,000 public primary and secondary schools, with about 2.3 million children (Kaduna State Annual School Census 2020 report). The recruitment was done in batches but some of those recruited in the first batch were again sacked over their inability to pass the ‘competency’ test and bearing ‘fake’ certificates.
Available information revealed that those recruited, issued with employment letters but posted in mid-2022 are mostly affected than the old hands, although some of the old hands also complained of being shortchanged by a consultant allegedly hired by the state government to pay workers’ salaries, as some of them don’t know how much they are being owed because their payslips are no longer regular.
The new teachers were issued appointment letters in July 2021 but were given posting letters in July 2022, a source said. They are majorly teachers that teach junior secondary schools 1 to 3 and payment of their salaries is done by the state government, while primary 1 to 6 teachers are paid by the local governments even though the state government recruits teachers for them.
Apart from the issue of salaries, the teachers also raised concerns over poor conditions of service and uncertainties associated with indiscriminate dismissal from service, thereby gagging them from giving their best on the job, to the detriment of children whose parents could not afford ‘expensive’ private schools.
“I’m an old teacher of more than 17 years. The last time I saw my payslip was around November 2021. I don’t even know how much they are owing me.
“Sometimes, they pay you one month out of maybe three or four months. And instead of paying the first month they are owing, they pay the last month and keep mum on the previous months”, a teacher who spoke in confidence said.
“They only paid me December 2022 salary since we were posted. I don’t know why they did that while they are still owing me salaries for July, August, September, October, and November. I even know colleagues who are yet to get a dime. It is unfortunate because we don’t know if at all they will pay for the previous months. Our mind is not even in what we do because they may wake up tomorrow and ask us to go home”, another teacher who did not want her name in print claimed.
The Education Report gathered that a meeting was called by the Kaduna State Teachers Service Board where it promised to pay the teachers before the end of December 2022, some were paid while others are still waiting to be paid.
One of the affected teachers posted on Kaduna State Secondary School Teachers Forum on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/184399889821163/permalink/566561598271655/?sfnsn=scwspwa&ref=share&mibextid=KtfwRi) “Good day colleagues. At our departmental meeting today 4/01/2023, a new teacher who had not seen even 1 month’s salary expressed her plight of 9 months of work without payments, crying profusely. Her husband insulted her today for asking for transportation money to come to the meeting. She said she didn’t know how she can start coming to work again. This is a married woman with a husband and children…
“I think at this juncture, we need to voice out anyhow for our payments and arrears to come to us. Until work resumes properly, we will not understand the pain of working without payments. Few of us received one month’s payment with remaining arrears of 6 to 7 months and we are quiet. I think at this junction decision need to be made for the way forward. We are qualified and educated teachers and not slaves in our fathers’ land. Thanks”.
Reacting to this development via a telephone call, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the State, Comrade Ibrahim Dalhatu, said, “we were pushing and we have been writing to the government to pay them but up till now, we have not received satisfactory result from them.
“The disengagement of teachers in 2019 by the state government was a kind of contradiction we are having in Kaduna. When the governor gave the directive that the teachers recruited by the local government be disengaged in 2019, non of the chairmen of the councils complain.
“Up till this moment, it is the state government that determines who is to be recruited as a teacher while the payment of salaries, pension gratuity, or whatever lies with the local government.
“It is only in Kaduna this is happening. The local government doesn’t have the power to recruit or fire but is responsible for the payment of primary school teachers in the state.
Concerning those that were sacked, the education board under the ministry of education has promised that anyone with a genuine certificate would be recalled.
“It is the SUBEB that will write the local government with details of their bills and then pay the salaries and that is how it has been done in Kaduna unlike in other states where the ministry of local government or that of finance pay directly.
Commissioner for Local Government, Umma Ahmed could not be reached for comment on the development especially as it affects primary school teachers as she did not pick up her call or reply to an SMS sent to her mobile phone.
But a source in the education sector in the state claimed that a lot of the teachers have been paid while BVN and other document verification are responsible for the delay in payment of others.
Lead, Evidence Technical Working Group (TWG), Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM), Open Government Partnership (citizen’s arm), Dangwa Abbas Danjuma expressed concern over the failure of the concerned state apparatuses to put the situation in proper perspective in the interest of the children of the masses who will suffer the consequences while the state and the country, in the long run, will have to struggle to get enough competent workers.
“The non-performance of personnel expenditure in the 2021 and 2022 budgets especially concerning the salaries of teachers recruited in 2021 has exposed several households and learners alike to one form of reorganization or the other.
“The affected teachers have suffered out-of-pocket expenses in the dispensation of their duties to Kaduna State without being paid a dime.
“There is more to it than just documentation being hyped as the challenge to which teachers have been denied pay after months of recruitment. There are grievous consequences to this action which will impact negatively on basic education in Kaduna State”, he said.