By Aplefe Ojong
Indications are gradually emerging that the Cross River State Government and the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT in the state a heading for a collision over what the Union describes as the treating of teachers in the state government employ as casual workers.
CrossRiverWatch gathered that the salaries of over 200 teachers in Cross River State have either been wholly taken or slashed for allegedly reporting on duty late just as the appointment of one teacher (name withheld) who has put in 18 years into the service has been terminated for allegedly being unable to read and write.
When contacted the Cross River state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Eyo Eyo-Nsa Itam confirmed the incident and disclosed that the Union may resort to industrial action if its position on the fraudulent taking of some teachers salaries and the unconstitutional sacking of a female teacher of St. Patrick’s Primary School, Mkpani, Yakurr are not immediately addressed by the state government.
Comrade Itam said that nobody has the right to take a worker’s salary or sack such a staff arbitrarily without following the provisions of Civil Service Rules of Cross River State which the Head of Service of the state is the chief custodian, disclosing further that neither the HOS of the state nor the Civil Service Commission sanctioned the illegality by those running the affairs of education in the state.
“Those who fraudulently took over 200 teachers’ salaries wholly or partly for allegedly being late to duty for about 5-7 minutes, and sacking a teacher that she is not able to read and write is inhuman, wicked and repugnant to civilized norms and conscience.
“There are laid down ways of doing things, you can’t wake up and act as if you are law unto yourself. We have written government on the issue and we are about to send a reminder after which if no positive response is gotten from them, we will speak to them in the language they always understand”, Comrade Itam warned.
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