As schools resume on Wednesday (today), teachers in Ekiti state have vowed to remain at home until their August and September salaries are paid.
The teachers, under the aegis of the Ekiti state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), have therefore shunned the directive by the out-going governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi that they should all resume on Wednesday.
The state chairman of the union, Mr Samuel Akosile, called on his colleagues to jettison the directive and stay at home because they cannot work on empty stomachs. He further explained that asking them to work in such a condition is like sending the teachers on a suicide mission.
Governor Kayode Fayemi had on Monday asked both public and private primary and secondary schools in the state to resume for the 2014/2015 academic session following the long holiday necessitated by the fear of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.
But Akosile directed that no teacher must be found on duty until the August and September salaries, being owed by the government, were fully paid as the government cannot justify asking for resumption when it had refused to play its own part of the bargain.
Fayemi’s tenure would be ending in few days as he hands over to governor-elect, Ayodele Fayose.
“How can we go back to work when we are being cheated? We cannot pretend that all is well when teachers are dying in silence,” Akosile said.
“As we speak now, teachers have not received August and September salaries as well as the deductions in July salary. But to our surprise, local government workers have been paid up to September. So what is the justification for the governor asking us to resume to duties?
“I hereby direct that all our members must remain at home until we are paid. I do not want a situation whereby teachers will either be dying on the roads or working with empty stomachs.”
