By Obeten Godfrey
Public school teachers in Cross River State have threatened to embark on a strike action following the inability of the state government to implement promises and agreement it had with the Cross River state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in 2016.
The sit-at-home is expected to begin on Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
The sit-at-home order was contained in a communiqué that contained resolutions at the end of the state wing executive council meeting (SWEC) of the NUT in the state held at Comprehensive Secondary School, Mbembe, Obubra local government area on June 22, 2018.
The communiqué read: “Government inactions over her promises of 3rd November, 2016, and agreement it freely entered with the Nigerian Union of Teachers on the 15th day of February, 2018, clearly shows that the Cross River state government has abandoned the teachers of Cross River state to their fate.”
Issuing an ultimatum to the government, the NUT said: “The government of Cross River state has until Wednesday, 27th of June, 2018 to meet all the demands of the union.”
It further read: “If after Wednesday 27th, June 2018, all the demands of the teachers are not met by the government, the teachers in public schools in the state should sit-at-home until government implements all that it had promised and agreed with the Nigerian Union of Teachers,” adding that teachers can only resume school if all demands are met.
The demands the union is seeking for include:
1. Payment of salary arrears owed some primary school teachers erroneously dropped from the payroll since 2016.
2. Release of promotion letters to Primary School teachers as is done to other workers of the state.
3. Complete implementation of promotion to all Secondary School Teachers.
4. Implementation of annual salary incremental steps to Primary School teachers from January, 2016.
5. Payment of Salaries to the four reinstated Secondary School teachers already approved by His Excellency, Prof. Ben Ayade.
6. Correction of discrepancies in the payment of salaries of Primary School teachers.
7. Remittance of NUT check-off dues for the months of April and May, 2017 (Secondary).
8. Payment of imprests to Heads of Public Primary Schools in the state.
9. Release of monthly pay advice for Public Primary School teachers.
10. Remittance of Teachers’ motorcycle loan deduction to the supplier and
11. Remittance of deduction to Banks, AMAECOM, Credit Direct, 1st Credit etc. by Cross River state government, thus eliminating double deductions from salaries of teachers.
Also the union averred that the government had in November, 2016 promised to pay all outstanding salary arrears and other emoluments of teachers in the state; and later signed an agreement in February, 2018 with the leadership of NUT in the state to that regard.
However, according to them the government has not been able live to its promises, a situation which triggered the ultimatum.