The Kwara state Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said there was no basis for the 14-day ultimatum issued by the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over salary arrears owed primary school teachers’ in the state.
Ahmed, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muhideen Akorede, said the teachers’ ultimatum was unwarranted and misplaced as the state government is not responsible for the salaries of primary school teachers and other local government workers.
While blaming the delayed salaries on the sustained drop in federal allocations to all tiers of government, Ahmed said the state government has always kept labour unions, including the state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the NUT abreast of the salary crises and efforts to resolve them.
Ahmed said his administration has been augmenting the dwindling federal allocations to local government councils since 2014, the latest being the N800m released to supplement the shortfall in August 2015 federal allocation to the local government councils in the state.
He therefore rejected the NUT’s allegation that the state government was discriminating between secondary and primary school teachers as incorrect, stressing that the state government paid the salary arrears of its workers, including secondary school teachers, following receipt of its share of the bail out loan.
He stated that the approved N5b bail out loan for the 16 local government councils in the state was yet to be released by the CBN despite the government’s compliance with the required paperwork.
He therefore urged the teachers to withdraw the ultimatum and exercise patience as the government is doing all in its power to secure the release of the outstanding funds from the CBN.
