IN a bid to belong to a strong body where they believe their interest will be better protected, Unity School teachers in the country have returned to the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT.  This came as NUT denied having anything to with the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASSUS.

Coordinator of unity school teachers, Mr Emeka Okonta  said in Abuja that they had to return to their professional body which understood the needs of teachers, saying “We, the teachers in federal government colleges have joined the NUT because we are professional teachers”

He recalled that government made them to believe  another union  name (withheld), was the better for them,  but that “we were often reminded when it gets to salary implementation and 13th month payment that they are indeed teachers and not civil servants. ”They told us to register with Teachers Registration Council which we did but when it comes to teachers’ salary implementation; we were told that we were civil servants and no longer teachers.

When the federal government in 2010, approved what upholds to all civil servants and just when we thought our time had come, teachers in federal unity colleges were not paid”

Again, when President Goodluck Jonathan approved 13th months for teachers in 2011, and our colleagues in civil service were being paid N120,000 each but when it got to our turn,  they paid teachers N5,000 each. It was at that point we decided that enough is enough”

”We have  come back to NUT and we will inform other of our colleagues that they should not be afraid to return to NUT. We will let them know that the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, is not a stakeholder in education therefore, there is no way ASCSN can fight their course. Let come back to where they truly belong.”