The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has appealed to acting President Yemi Osinbajo to call governors owing teachers’ salaries to order.
The acting Secretary General of the union, Dr Mike Ike-Ene, made the appeal in an interview, on Friday, in Abuja.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari via the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to call these governors to order.
“Because the moment you put a child out of school for one month, two months, three months the damage will come in the next 10 years.
“So if they continue like this, NUT has directed nationally that where these teachers are owned they should down their tools.
“You can’t beat a child and say the child should not cry it’s unfair, where lies the justice?’’
He said Benue and Bayelsa were among states that owe primary school teachers eight to ten months’ salary arrears.
Ike-Ene urged the acting president to intervene by calling the affected states to order to avoid industrial action.
“That is why I keep crying about the foundation of education; if you bastardise primary education; you keep sending woes and those who will never do well to secondary and tertiary institutions.
“As I talk to you now our teachers in Benue, primary school teachers, are being owed ten months salary arrears and they are still working 10 good months’ people cannot put food on their table.
“There are cases where a father is a teacher and the mother is a teacher, will they rob a bank before they put food on their table, not only Benue, Bayelsa (is owing) eight good months.
“In Osun, Imo and many other states, our teachers are paid in percentages; primary school teachers are owned various sums of money in various states.’’ (NAN)