The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) may begin a nationwide strike in two weeks, if the Federal Government refuses to meet its demands, it was learnt yesterday.
The union said its demands were genuine because they affected teachers, teaching and the education system.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, during this year’s World Teacher’s Day celebration with the theme: Valuing Teachers, Improving Their Status, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) National President Michael Olukoya described the current status of teachers as deplorable.
The union leader urged the Federal Government to involve professional teachers in its plan to employ 500,000 graduates.
He said: “The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president and I are on the same page. It is time for us to take the bull by the horn. It is customary of us that after two weeks of celebration of World Teacher’s Day, we hold our meetings and we also call for situation report – state-by-state – pertaining to the demands of Nigerian teachers.
“If in two weeks we meet and nothing positive happens, do not wait for any other directive. We will call out Nigerian teachers for a strike.”
On the status of teachers, Olukoya said: “Valuing teachers from the areas of our leaders is yet a hollow. Freedom is still very far from teaching because it has not improved. On a day like this, we cannot be deceiving ourselves following the situation of things. Teachers are only paid in percentages; teachers are denied their gratuity. Enough of complaints from our leaders! They should sit down, plan, call specialists and address the issue at the moment.”
Also, the Senior Programme Specialist on Education for UNESCO, Saidou Jallow, noted that schools needed 24.4 million teachers in primary education and 44.4 million in the secondary education to guarantee the success of universal primary education by 2030.
He said: “To achieve universal primary education by 2030, we need 24.4 million more teachers at the primary school level and 44.4 million secondary school teachers.”