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Tag: NUT

  • Ajimobi insists on patnership

    Ajimobi insists on patnership

    • NLC, NUT shun Oyo education forum

         •Alaafin, Olubadan support govt

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) yesterday shunned the postponed “Stakeholders Interactive Forum on the Management of Public Secondary Schools” organised by the Oyo State Government.

    The forum, which was scheduled for June 1, to deliberate on the government’s intention to adopt public private partnership in the education sector was disrupted by the labour unions.

    The unions claimed the intention of government was to privatise the education sector and sell public secondary schools.

    The postponed forum was held at the House of Chiefs, Parliament  Building, Secretariat, Ibadan, amidst tight security.

    Security operatives mounted the entrance of the venue with Hilux trucks and Armoured Personnel Carriers over fear of disruption by the labour unions.

    The meeting was attended by Christian and Muslim  clerics, traditional rulers and other stakeholders in the education sector.

    On why the labour leaders shunned the rescheduled forum, the NLC National Vice-Chairman, Mr. Solomon Adelegan, stated that the state government did not send any invitation to the union.

    He insisted that they were not ready to call off their indefinite strike, which started on Monday, until the state government meets their demands.

    Their demands, according to him, include: “Immediate withdrawal of all trump-up charges levelled against incarcerated labour leaders and government must rescind its decision to sell-off any public schools in the state. Proper and adequate funding of the education sector, including payment of living wages and other incentives for educational workers. Immediate payment of six months outstanding salaries and all pension arrears.”

    But at the stakeholders’ forum yesterday, Governor Abiola Ajimobi appealed to organised labour unions and aggrieved parties to embrace dialogue as a way forward to the dispute between government and labour over the proposed new management of schools.

    He noted that dialogue was the hallmark of any democratic setting, hence the need to engage in constant deliberations to avoid unguarded perceptions.

    Ajimobi restated that the intention of the state government was not to sell or hand over schools to any group or individuals.

    His words: “The aim of the government was to brainstorm with stakeholders on ways of improving the education sector by encouraging any association or individuals who were willing to assist the state government. I believe it was politicians that disrupted the initial scheduled stakeholders meeting.

    “It is an open government we are operating and it is transparent. We will continue to ensure transparent governance. There is no place in the media where we told the public that we want to sell off public secondary schools. From the 631 secondary schools in this state, many of them are eyesore and government does not have funds to rehabilitate them.”

    The governor noted that the government who would continue to regulate and give standards for the administration of public schools.

    Ajimobi stressed that rather than make a policy statement on the new education reform, which, he said,government was capable of doing, his administration chose to embrace consultations to welcome inputs from relevant stakeholders.

    He promised that issues raised by the stakeholders at the meeting would be deliberated upon, adding that the forum would not impose any decision on the masses.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Aderonke Makanjuola listed wider consultations, reliable statistical data, sustainability and quest for development as some of the factors taken into considerations to achieve a desirable reform in the education sector.

    Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III and Olubadan of Ibadan Oba Saliu Adetunji both keyed into the initiative of the state government and appealed to stakeholders to complement government’s efforts at repositioning education.

    Oba Adeyemi hailed the initiative, adding that it would go along way to improve the standard of education in state.

    “I am in full support of this policy and I will contribute my quota towards its achievement. Anybody that is against the policy should bring his own idea to the government in a peaceful manner.”

    Oba Adetunji likened the administration to that of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    But the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Samuel Adegbola, urged the government to re-orientate the masses about the policy.

    Oba Adegbola, who noted that the initiative was a welcome development, stressed that the public needs public sensitisation.

    Representative of Christian community Bishop Jacob Ajetumobi said it had been a long desire of religious bodies to support government in the maintenance and sustenance of schools.

  • ‘16,000 teachers needed in Lagos schools’

    The Lagos State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Friday said about 16,000 teachers are needed to adequately cater for government-owned primary and secondary schools in the state.

    The state chairman of NUT, Mr. Segun Raheem, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos that 9,000 teachers would be needed in the primary schools and 7,000 in secondary schools.

    Raheem said the situation in the schools is pathetic as the 1,300 teachers recently recruited could not cover the huge shortage of teachers experienced in the schools.

    “Thousands of teachers have retired from June 2015, to date. Lack of teachers in our schools is now becoming a major issue.

    “A teacher taking two to three classes with about 60 to 90 students in each class is not professional,’’ he said.

  • NLC, NUT, others disrupt Oyo education forum

    LEADERS of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigerian Conference of Principals (ANCOP) and other groups yesterday disrupted the education forum organised by Oyo State on proposed return of some schools to original owners.

    The programme was about to begin when the protesters stormed the venue, asked government officials and reporters to vacate the location at Western Hall, Secretariat, Ibadan.

    They upturned the chairs and tables at the venue .

    The action of the protesters stopped the meeting from holding.

    Those seated before the disruption included the Archbishop of Methodist Church Nigeria, Ibadan Diocese, Most Revd Kehinde Stephen and other notable Christian and Islamic clerics.

    The Secretary to Oyo State Government, Alhaji Ismail Olalekan-Alli and Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Dr. Gbade Ojo, were among the government officials booed by the protesters.

    The protest was led by Oyo State NLC chairman Mr. Waheed Olojede and state chairman of NUT, Mr. Niyi Akano.

    Addressing  reporters, Olojede said: “We are here gathered this morning for an important project, a project of liberation, a project that is aimed to deliver the people of Oyo State from bondage. Last week Wednesday, we were sufficiently informed through an advertorial placed by Oyo State that the government invited expression of interest of individuals, missions and other stakeholders for partnership and ownership in the conduct and administration of secondary education.

    “This quickly attracted the attention of the labour congress, having considered the government attempt of sales of schools as very barbaric in the 21st century.

    “We are going to the streets to sensitise the citizenry to kick against this new policy. We consider this policy obnoxious and very barbaric. We are calling on the government of Oyo State to rescind its decision and allow the public schools to remain.

    “We will continue with our struggle and bring government to its kneels in realisation of the fact that education for all is a responsibility for all.”

    Also, Akano contended that the government did not carry the teachers along in the policy, adding: “We are here to render our grievances with the policy of the government by way of trying to privatise the public secondary schools in Oyo State.”

    But the state condemned the disruption of the forum, saying it was barbaric and uncivilised.

    Secretary to the state government, who addressed reporters, said the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led administration did not have any plan to privatise, sell or commercialise any public schools.

    Olalekan-Alli, who stated that the disrupted meeting has been re-scheduled for next week, argued that instead of entering the hall and causing commotion, the protesters should have expressed their opposition in a decent manner.

    He said:”Our present initiative, therefore, is to unequivocally emphasise that government neither intends to sell nor privatise its educational institutions. Similarly, government will never abdicate its responsibility of ensuring improved quality of education, maintaining religious diversity, neither shall we negotiate our free education policy among others.

    “We are not returning schools on the basis of religion but on the basis of the set criteria for all interested stakeholders that will be further pre-qualified.

    “It is intended that less than 10 per cent of the 631 secondary schools in the state may be involved in the participatory venture, rather than the erroneous impression that education in the state is being privatised wholesale.”

    Olalekan-Alli vowed that the old and highly condemnable mannerisms, misinformation, rumour-mongering, violence and other retrogressive vices, which the state had apparently overcome, would not be allowed to reverberate in the state.

  • NUT frowns at exclusion from states’ bailout fund

    NUT frowns at exclusion from states’ bailout fund

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) yesterday kicked against exclusion of its members in the payment of salaries from the bailout funds approved by the federal government last year by some governors.

    The union, in a statement in Abuja by its Secretary General, Obong Obong, said it would reject any discrimination against any of its members from payment of salaries by some governors.

    Obong described the decision not to pay teachers’ salaries from the bailout funds by State governments as callous, adding that the union will not tolerate the gross insensitivity of State governments towards teachers’ plights.

    He asked state governments still owing teachers arrears of salaries to urgently pay up.

    The statement reads: “The Nigeria Union of Teachers wishes to express her outmost dismay over the systematic exclusion of teachers in the payment of salaries from the 2015 federal government bailout funds given to state governments.

    “The national leadership of the union strongly rejects the segregational treatment meted out to teachers by some governors in favour of other workers in their various states.”

  • NUT laments teachers’ exploitation

    NUT laments teachers’ exploitation

    The Lagos State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) yesterday decried the exploitation of private school teachers by their employers.

    The union’s chairman, Segun Raheem, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that school owners had capitalised on the high unemployment rate by paying the teachers less for much workload.

    According to Raheem, it is also regrettable that the job is not pensionable.

    He said the union could not address the situation as a result of the present unemployment rate in the country.

    “Even some state governments are not meeting their responsibilities.

    “So, how can the union fight the owners of private schools involved in the exploitation of their workers?” he said.

    A former private school teacher, Adebola Thomas, urged the government to fix a template that proprietors of private schools would adopt to pay their teachers.

  • Teenager kills retired headmistress in Edo

    A teenager, who has been on the wanted list of the Nigeria Police as a serial killer, Happy Agbangbanyan, has killed a retired headmistress, identified as Clara Uwaifo.

    Clara, aged 65, was shot dead in front of her residence at 27, Oviawe Street, off Upper Siluko road, Ogida, Benin-City, at about 3pm.

    She was said to be returning from an hospital where she went to see her daughter when she was killed.

    Late Clara retired last year from Uwelu Primary School in Ikpoba Okha Local Government.

    Her grand-daughter, who claimed to have witnessed the killing, said she saw the suspect following her grandmother as she approached their residence.

    She stated that the suspect pulled out a gun from his trousers and shot at the woman from behind, just as she made a move to collect a bag from her grandmother,

    Some family members said the deceased family has been at logger heads with the suspect’s family for many years.

  • Teachers’ transfer wrong, claims NUT

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Lagos Wing chairman, Mr Segun Raheem, yesterday described the mid-session transfer of secondary school teachers by the state government as “professionally wrong”.

    Raheem told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the transfer was against the ethics of teaching.

    He said the transfer could affect the school‘s curriculum, especially when pupils were preparing for mock and Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE).

    According to him, though it is statutory for a teacher to be transferred, it must be done with caution as it can affect the quality and standard of education.

    “This is February; mock will commence very soon and WAEC will follow.

    “If you say some schools are lacking teachers and you want the schools in those districts to have good grades, this is not the best time to make transfers; professionally it is wrong.

    “You don’t transfer a teacher mid-session and expect positive results, it is professionally wrong.

    “But if there is a need for it at all like the one proposed by the deputy governor, it must not be seen as politics.

    “If need be, we will plead with the deputy governor that those who have decided not to go should be allowed to remain in their schools,’’ he said.

    Raheem, however, pleaded with the government to consider recruiting more teachers for primary and secondary schools as the state is in need of teachers.

    A teacher moved from a school in Oshodi to Surulere told NAN that the transfer was not evenly done.

    According to her, there are four English teachers in her former school teaching 120 pupils in a class.

    ‘Two of the English teachers have been transferred without replacement; the remaining teachers are forced to take about 28 periods every week.

    “Meanwhile, where I am transferred to, they have enough English teachers compared to where I am coming from.

    “Although I should be happy because I have more time to myself, considering the love of the job and the pupils we are grooming, it is not a healthy exercise.

    “It will have a serious consequence on their performance, particularly at this period when there is call for improvement in external examinations,” she said.

  • NUT to screen 700 teachers

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Borno State said yesterday that about 700 teachers with eye problems would undergo free screening.

    State NUT Chairman Bulama Abiso told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that 241 women and 400 men would benefit from the exercise.

    He said the beneficiaries were drawn from nine local governments in the southern part of the state. They included Biu, Shani, Kwaya Bayo, Damboa, Gwoza, Askira Uba, Hawul and Chibok.

    He said the screening would be conducted by a team of medical experts under the aegis of UC Eye Centre, a Non Government Organisation (NGO).

    Abiso said the union, in the last three months, screened about 640 teachers and donated free medicated glasses to 140 people with eye problems in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere Local Government.

    He said patients with minor eye problems would be treated, while those with complicated cases would be referred to the Eye Centre in Maiduguri for surgery.

    “About 30 teachers with eye problems have received surgeries, glasses and proper medication.”

    The chairman said the gesture was designed to improve the teachers’ well-being to enable them improve their productivity in providing quality education.

    He said the screening was necessary to ascertain the health status of teachers, who remained the core centre of the educational process.

  • NUT seeks better deal for teachers

    NUT seeks better deal for teachers

    The East Regional Working Committee Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Nweke Joseph, has called for teachers to be given a pride of place in society, as they are pillars.

    Speaking with reporters during the solemn assembly of the union for the East Region at the NUT secretariat in Calabar, Joseph said happy teachers would be more productive.

    He said: “We say that teachers should be given a pride of place in the society. They are the pillars. Without the teachers there would be no engineers, or lawyers or medical doctors. So, they should be given a pride of place; and they should be adequately taken care of because once they are taken care of, pupils will be well taught.

    “In developed countries, farmers and teachers are rated very high; but here in Nigeria it is the politicians that are rated high and teachers are rated low and we say no, because without teachers they would not be there. Teachers should be acknowledged, given the honour and given those things that they should be given so they would be happy to do their jobs.”

    Joseph, who is also the chairman of the Ebonyi State NUT, said the  assembly was an opportunity to thank God.

    “What informed this solemn assembly is that we have discovered that without God, we would not go far in life. Except the Lord builds a house, they that build are laboring in vain. And because the Lord has been so gracious to us, we want to have a solemn assembly to appreciate him and ask him for favour for the journey ahead,” he said.

    Chairman, Cross River NUT, Comrade Eyo-Nsa Itam, also reiterated the need to start with God. He praised the Cross River State government for paying salaries promptly.

    “In Cross River we want to commend Ayade for his efforts, trying to pay salaries on time. There are some states owing salaries for months. But we also ask that the government gives a listening ear to our demands. The various allowances we are asking for should be given to us and it would encourage us to do better. We also ask for tax rebates for teachers.”

    The solemn assembly featured songs and praises, prayers and bible readings.

    Rev Louis Ugochukwu, in a sermon titled: “This is my season of going from glory to glory”, told the teachers they are the foundation of society and prophesised better things for them.

    The states that make up the East Region of the NUT are: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Rivers.

     

  • NUT urges teachers’ involvement school feeding implementation

    NUT urges teachers’ involvement school feeding implementation

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has urged governments at all levels to involve teachers in the implementation of school feeding programme.

    Mr. Michael Olukoya, NUT National President, made the call at the 2016 `Solemn Assembly’ of the union in Abuja on Wednesday.

    He advised that the free meal policy should be targeted at the children of the poor.

    He said that this was the first time that the children of the poor would benefit from the dividends of democracy.

    On the Federal Government’s plan to recruit 500,000 teachers, Olukoya pleaded with the government to recruit qualified teachers.

    “The NUT is appealing to the Federal Government to put the right pegs in the right holes in the recruitment of the 500,000 teachers.

    “The idea of recruiting engineers, architects, lawyers in the name of the teaching profession, sincerely speaking, might not achieve the desired goals.

    “We want the government of this country to have a rethink by making sure that those that will be recruited are those that have been trained as professional teachers.

    “There is no way that an engineer, if given even six months training, will become a professional teacher.’’

    He added that to teach is a passion and those that have learnt the art of teaching, should be recruited.

    He also appealed to state governments not implementing the N18,000 minimum wage to start paying as doing otherwise amounts to modern day slavery.

    He also called for the inclusion of private school teachers in the pension scheme and minimum wage.
    He also assured teachers in Kwara State who are presently on strike of the union’s support, stressing, “no retreat, no surrender.’’

    The president urged states paying teachers as they please to stop, warning that if the practice persisted, the states would become ungovernable.

    He also pleaded with kidnappers to leave teachers alone, adding that they don’t have money to pay ransom.