Author: The Nation

The Kaduna State Government may be heading for another showdown with organized Labour following the decision of the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board to sack 2,357 teachers for failing a competency test.

The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the State Government fails to reverse the decision to sack the teachers, including its National President, Audu Amba.

The union made its position known on Wednesday during its National Executive Council meeting at the Teachers House, Lugbe, Abuja.

The Nigeria Labour Congress on May 18, 2021, commenced a one-week warning strike cutting off services to protest the alleged anti – labour postures of the State Government.

The strike was suspended on the third day following the invitation of the NLC and the Kaduna State government for dialogue by the Federal Government led by Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige.

However, on June 19, the Kaduna state universal basic education board announced the dismissal of 2,357 teachers who failed the recently-conducted competency test.

Its spokesperson, Hauwa Mohammed, in a statement on Sunday in Kaduna, had said the board conducted a competency test for over 30,000 teachers in December 2021.

She said that 2,192 primary school teachers including the National President of the NUT, Amba, had been dismissed for refusing to sit for the competency test.

Mohammed noted that 165 of the 27,662 teachers that sat for the competency test were also sacked for poor performances.

But addressing reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, Deputy President of NUT, Dr Kelvin Nwankwo said Amba did not fail the test and remained its national president.

The union also said the action of Governor Nasiru El-Rufai was clearly to intimidate the NUT President and embarrass teachers in Nigeria, while accusing the governor of using the tactics not to pay owed salaries.

The NEC urged the State Government to embark on a continuous Teacher Training Programme, which would improve knowledge and service delivery by teachers in the public schools of Kaduna state as obtained in other professions such as Nursing, Medicine and Law.

He said: “The very concept of competency test is an aberration and absurd having regards to the fact that the teachers in Kaduna State have prior to their recruitment in the State Public Service attended schools and institutions statutorily saddled with the responsibility of teacher education and these institutions have certified them to be competent, fit and proper to be teachers.

“In addition, the same Kaduna State Government had subjected the teachers to scrutiny and test to ensure their suitability or otherwise for employment as Teachers before they were recruited.

“It is in the context of the above that the whole concept of a competency test which is only peculiar to Kaduna State is akin to a cocktail of absurdities and leaves a sour taste in the mouth, thereby validating the position of NUT that the intentions of the Kaduna State Government on this issue is everything but altruistic.”

Nwankwo said Kaduna was the second most indebted state in Nigeria, adding that the state government was on a free roller coaster move to satisfy the conditionalities handed down to it by its creditors, which normally includes downsizing of the public service without even the remotest regards to our peculiar circumstances.

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He added: “The whole concept of competency test was designed by the Kaduna State Government to achieve its inglorious aim of casualisation of the teaching profession in Kaduna State.

“Otherwise, how else can one attempt a rationalisation of the fact that the same Kaduna State Government in the year 2018 dismissed/retired in one swoop 21,780 teachers purportedly for not passing its unilaterally and arbitrarily administered competency test and purportedly in replacement thereof recruited about 20,000 new teachers, who according to it were subjected to vigorous test and confirmed to be competent before they were recruited into the Kaduna State Public Service.

“In accordance with the Kaduna State Public/Civil Service Rules, these purported 20,000 teachers were employed on a temporary basis and placed on a one year probationary period.

“Their appointments were to be made permanent and pensionable after the one year probationary period. However, rather regrettably five years down the line, these teachers are still under temporary appointment with the result that the Kaduna state government can whimsically and shamelessly ask them to leave the public service without any terminal related benefits.

“These 20,000 constitute the bulk of the 2,357 teachers, who are said not to have passed the latest in the series of competency tests in Kaduna State.”

He noted that the intention of the Kaduna state government was to prey on the rather unfortunate existing non-employment status of “our teeming school leavers by recruiting them as teachers only to subsequently subject them to the raw deal it subjected the purported 20,000 teachers, thereby achieving its aim of casualization of the teaching profession in Kaduna State.”

He added: “He was not dismissed then for failure to write the competency test. The question that readily agitates the mind in the circumstance is, what has changed in 2021/2022?

“It is also rather very sad and curious that the dismissal letter relative to the NUT President was in the public domain via the social media even when it has not been served on him.

“The intention clearly is to intimidate the NUT President and embarrass the Teachers in Nigeria. This like other anti labour and people policies of the Kaduna state government has failed on arrival. We got news for His Excellency Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai and his co-travellers to wit: power is transient.”

He reaffirmed the commitment of the NUT to stand with its “revered President Comrade Audu Titus Amba and all the teachers in Kaduna State, who have fallen victim to the anti-labour policies in Kaduna State and which policies have defied all logic and are lacking in the milk of human kindness.”

Former Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Sani Ahmed Toro has narrated his ordeals with kidnappers who seized him with two friends, former Assistant Coach of the Super Eagles, Garba Yali and Alh. Isa Jah.

The Nation reports Toro, Yali and Jah were kidnapped at 5.00 pm around Akwanga in Nasarawa State on Sunday after attending the wedding of the son of former NFF President Aminu Maigari.

A family source told our correspondent on Sunday the kidnappers had contacted Maigari and demanded N150m ransom for their release.

Speaking to Journalists in his residence in Bauchi on Wednesday, Toro said they were starved for almost three days without food or water.

According to him, the heavily armed kidnappers, who were about 12, stopped their vehicles at Anguwan Mallam Musa, Fada Karshe, close to Kaduna State around 8:pm on Sunday.

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He said:” Pointing their guns at us, they ordered us to get out of our car and start trekking. We trekked from 8pm-5 am. We crossed through a river that almost reached us at chest level. They neither gave us food nor water to drink. It was a terrible experience.”

The former NFF scribe said the kidnappers took them to an unknown destination in the forest where they stayed for almost three days without food or water.

“They were young men in their 30s, who apart from starving us, prevented us from saying our prayers when it was time,” he added.

Expressing gratitude, he said that the prayers of Nigerians and his family secured his release.

Toro said he cannot ascertain whether a ransom was paid to secure his release or not, adding that he has forgiven his abductors.

The Taraba Government is involved in a face-off with parents of some trafficked children who insist their children be released to them after remaining in Government custody for three years.

Some of the children were forcefully taken away from the Government Welfare Centre at the Taraba Motel Jalingo in the week, a situation which forced the government and security agencies to swing into action.

Investigations by The Nation shows that the parents are aggrieved by the attitude of government officials towards their wards.

They expressed frustration over the inability of their children to attend school and the antics of government towards the situation.

“They called us to pick the children. We came but they were reluctant to give us the kids. This is three years they are in government custody. They don’t attend school. It must disturb us.

“We came to pick our children but they were frustrating us. We waited till 3pm and then asked our children to come out. They invited the police and we were taken to the police station. They then asked us to wait so that the governor would order for our release. We waited and they couldn’t show up. Right now my child is not with me.

“The children have been with them for three years. We have been heeding to their directives to come pick our children all at our expense. The government has never compensated us,” Blessing Emmanuel, an aggrieved parent said

According to Emmanuel, the trafficking suspect, one Madam Mary, tricked them she was taking the children to school only to be intercepted by the authorities on the journey.

She revealed that the suspect was released while the children have been kept in custody.

“They released Madam Mary. Government didn’t release our children and are frustrating us. Where do we take our cry to? They should give us our children!

“It was Madam Mary that deceived us that she would take our children to school. She left with our children and then called us on phone so we can know where our children were. I went and picked two children at my expense.

“When she was arrested with the children in Bali and brought to Jalingo, she called us and gave me my child. I took him to Baissa. The rest were taken from Baissa and brought to Jalingo. I don’t know where she lives; all I know is that an agent of hers convinced us that the children would be taken to school,” she added.

It was also learnt that government is highly embarrassed by the situation, especially the media attention it has attracted.

Efforts to speak to the Commissioner of Woman Affairs were not successful.

She was said not to be on seat on Tuesday morning while the Permanent Secretary was said to have taken ill and could not respond to journalists seeking clarification.

Taraba Police Commissioner Abimbola Shokoy confirmed the disappearance of 72 children.

While responding to questions from journalists in his office, Shokoya said 51 of the kids have been rescued while some of the perpetrators of the act have been arrested.

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“There was information which was quite disheartening that part of Taraba Motel which was used as a welfare centre for Taraba state and where we had children which were being trafficked and eventually rescued, was somehow hijacked, the children released or forcefully whisked away by their parents.

“Eventually we swung into action, we were able to rescue 51 out of the 72 children that escaped or were forcefully whisked away. With the cooperation, synergy of our sister agencies, we have been able to rescue 51 out of the 72 children alleged to have been whisked away by their relations or parents,” Shokoya said.

On the situation of the trafficking suspect, Shokoya denied knowledge of the matter. “I would say that I have not been intimated about what happened or how the children got to the welfare centre because this is an inherited matter. Unless I go to the archives or I check the files, which is how I can know the position of Madam Mary… We don’t know much and we do not like to go into a case we did not investigate,” he disclosed.

On the plight of the children who were allegedly not attending school, Shokoya said he was not in a position to confirm but said some youth corps members have been meeting their educational needs while the police have been providing security to the children.

“There has been some form of attention from the government. I can say this one because in the course of staying there, we have been providing security but in terms of the release of the children, that one is in the hands of government. Our job is restricted to security,” he stated.

He said 13 of those who perpetrated the act have so far been arrested and investigation was on to ascertain if they were the parents of the children or not.