Delta primary teachers lament non-payment of salaries

Primary school teachers in Delta State yesterday protested at the state House of Assembly over non-payment of their salaries.The protesting teachers with placards at the Assembly premises saying: “We want our salaries removed from the councils,”

 “We are not against the local council autonomy,” “We are tired of staying with the councils.”

The state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Titus Okotie and Secretary, Mr. Joe Iyalekhue, told journalists that the present structure relating to the issue of local council autonomy had affected the welfare of the primary school teachers.

According to them, the financial burden of the councils had been enormous, especially in this critical period of struggling to pay their workers and the teachers, contending that the primary school teachers cannot in any way “survive” the situation.

 

They, however, called for the removal of the teachers’ salary from the councils, and transfer to the state with increased funding by the Federal Government. They also appealed to the Speaker, Mr. Sheriff Oborevwori and members of the Assembly to help channel the process to the appropriate authorities. 

Oborevwori assured the protesting teachers that their plight would be looked into, and commended them for their maturity. In another development, the Osun State Government has denied paying half salary to the generality of its workers contrary to the misinformation being carried around by some mischief-makers in the state.

In a statement, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Adelani Baderinwa, while clarifying issues about payment of salaries in the state, explained that workers in the state were paid based on the modulated salary structure agreed to by the government and the labour unions in the state.
 

Baderinwa said, among others: “The government wishes to state that contrary to the report, it does not owe any worker if the modulated salary structure agreement is anything to go by.


“ It is only a section of workers on Grade Level 13 and above that receives 50 per cent of their salaries based on agreement between the government and the labour unions.”


“Outside that category of workers on Grade Level 13 and above, no other receives half of his or her salaries and the workers in this category are just about 20 per cent of the state’s workforce.

“Workers on Grade Levels 8-12 receive 75 per cent of their salaries while officers on Levels 7 and below receive their full pay. “All workers in the state have received their salaries up to October this year. As we pay active workers, so we pay pensioners.”

“The only outstanding payment to pensioners is the gratuity and this is due to workers who choose not to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme and therefore left the service in 2011 and 2012. 

“We wish to state that the modulated salary was arrived at as the best option the government could take in the interest of the workers due to the economic recession that crippled the state finances,” he further said.