From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has lamented the incessant killings and kidnapping of teachers by Boko Haram insurgents in the North East and other parts of the country, threatening to shut down schools if adequate security is not provided around them.
NUT President Dr Nasir Idris made the disclosure in Abuja at the weekend.
‘I can say, we have lost almost 800 teachers in the North East. And this issue of banditry in the Northwest is not that we have lost teachers but teachers were being kidnapped together with their students because some of the teachers insisted they must go with their students if the students were going to be taken,’ he said.
‘They said if you are going to take our children, carry us all together because we can’t just let our students go with you.
‘We have lost a lot of members as far as this issue is concerned. So, we said the government, as a matter of urgency, should provide security in those places, any place that we see that the Federal Government does not provide adequate security to mount those posts, we will shut it down. We can’t just put our children and teachers in trouble. So, that’s why we say that if security is not being provided, we will definitely ask teachers in those various areas to withdraw their services. We have made this point clear to the Federal Government.’
The NUT president assured that efforts were ongoing to ensure that the new salary structure for teachers is implemented in 2022 as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
‘For the new salary structure for Nigerian teachers, the approval by Mr President is to commence by January 2022. So there is an effort between the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Federal Ministry of Education and other principal stakeholders to ensure that the implementation takes place by 2022.
‘Then on the issue of 65 years and 40 years of service, we are on the issue because the President has sent the Bill to the National Assembly and then we are working with them, they have read it in the floor of the House of Reps, and Senate and they are waiting now for the second reading so that they will pass it and send it to the President for assent. Like all of you know that the Federal Government has seen reason canvassed by the Nigerian Union of Teachers’ leadership. The Polytechnic, the College of Education and Universities are enjoying this gesture but the primary and post-primary schools teachers in Nigeria are not enjoying it and the president, when we paid him a courtesy visit of canvassing for the President to see reason on that matter, graciously approved it. So, the primary and secondary school teachers will also enjoy that gesture. So, we are just waiting and we are working assiduously to ensure that that Bill is being passed by the National Assembly so that they will start enjoying the gesture also”, he disclosed.
According to Idris, the Nigerian primary and post-primary education system is failing due to poor working conditions for teachers which have repelled the influx of sound minds and brains to that area.
He added that the union was working assiduously to achieve better working conditions for the teachers in Nigeria in order to make the sector more attractive.
‘When you go to schools now, the state government and local governments do not recruit teachers and teachers are retiring because the condition of service is not good at all.
‘So, that is why we came in and said let government look at this so that they will make teaching in the primary and secondary schools attractive so that we can retain old brains and also, when the new brains see that things are moving fine in the primary and secondary sector, they will also be able to come and take employment in the teaching sector of the primary and secondary schools. Because if federal, state and local governments do not make teaching attractive, no fresh brain will be injected into those areas.
‘So that is why we always make the government understand that unless they provide good infrastructure and make teaching attractive, people will continue to run away. Even the teachers that are teaching are running away. Some of our classroom rooms are almost empty. That is why we are pursuing this new innovation for Nigerian teachers and at the same time to see how best we will retain the teachers that we have, and at the same time, get new blood and new brains to be injected into the teaching sector,’ he explained.