By Boluwaji Obahopo

LOKOJA—Teachers in Kogi State yesterday said they would not return to schools as they were continuing with their six-month-old strike.

They said part of the reasons for their strike was the worsening situation in the education sector, which needed urgent solution.
The teachers, who spoke under the aegis of the Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria, BESAN, made this known at a media briefing in Lokoja.

The Chairman of BESAN, Suleiman Yakubu, who spoke on the occasion, said although the state government had directed schools to re-open for the 2014/2015 academic session, the association had directed its members to continue with the strike until their demands were met.

Yakubu said part of their complaints include non-payment of the new minimum wage, incessant screening of staff, irregular salaries, unpaid leave allowances, as well as promotion without cash backing, among others.

He condemned the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, which he said had become a political tool in the hands of the state government.

His words, “The spate of inconclusive and fraudulent screening exercise have led to the aggravation of our woeful plight by resulting in the unscrupulous disengagement of legally-employed qualified staff. Screening of Basic Education staffers in Kogi State has become a lucrative source of enrichment to some  public and civil servants.

“We are the only civil servants in the employment of Kogi State Government who have been owed four years of leave allowances. It is also disheartening to mention that the Kogi State government has refused to implement the national minimum wage of N18,000 for basic education staff.”

He said rather for government to fix the infrastructural decay in the school system and address the plights of primary school teachers, it had continued to issue threats against members of the association.