Ebonyi State Governor, Chief David Umahi has given assurance that though the state is ridden with unqualified teachers, that he would not sack any of them.
This is even as he directed that salaries of workers at both the state and local government levels be paid before 20th of September to enable workers send their children and wards back to school.
The governor, who spoke when he received national Executive of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), led by the National President, Mr. Micheal Olukoya, at the Government House stressed that his administration would not embark on disengagement of teachers.
He nevertheless, frowned at the quality of some of the teachers whom he said are not qualified to teach.
He appealed to the teachers not to join the warning strike declared by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), even as he regretted that labour workers called on workers to go on strike after its leader had signed an agreement with government to accept the recommendations of the special salaries committee.
Governor Umahi said that henceforth, no agency of the state government would be permitted to negotiate with the organized labour in the state led by a federal worker.
The governor said that in line with the recommendations of the Special Committee on Salaries, there would no longer be a disparity between the salaries of state workers and their local government counterparts.
He promised to re-visit all issues of outstanding salaries of teachers at local government level arising from the recent increment of workers’ salaries, which he stated was politically-motivated.
Governor Umahi said that his administration would also re-visit the issue of the payment of Teachers Salary Structure when the economy of the state improved.
Meanwhile, the NLC leadership expressed disappointment over what it called discrimination against primary school teachers in the state in the process of implementing the 50 percent salary increase for workers in the state.
Olukoya regretted that primary school teachers were not paid when the government directed the payment of the outstanding September, 2011 salaries of workers who went on strike under the no-work-no pay policy of the past administration in the state.
This was even as the special Adviser to the governor on Labour Relations, Mrs Grace Chukwu, described as false, an
allegation by organised labour in the state,that one of its members, Comrade Emmanuel Mbam, was beaten to coma and rushed to hospital by a government monitoring team led by Sam Igwe.
“Mbam was not beaten; no body touched him; no body tortured him as was alleged by organised labour that the man was beaten to coma and that the man was in the hospital. He (Mbam) is here live to speak for himself.”
Mbam, who is the vice chairman of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria in Ebonyi state, said that he was in his office ensuring that no worker in his constituent came to work when the government monitoring team arrived.
“I was not beaten by any body. Rather,they were persuading me not to prevent workers from entering their offices. When I got calls from my labour leaders, I told them to remain calm that I am alive.” [myad]
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