By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

Thousands of teachers in the service of Kwara state government under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) have urged Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to meet their demands, described as ,”highly vexatious” to avert looming strike,even though government is doing well in other areas of education sector.

This is contained in a letter signed by Comrade Yusuf Wahab Agboola, and Moni Mike Modesty Itua ,State Chairman,and Principal Assistant Secretary General respectively addressed to the governor, titled,”Government Unending Silence on Kwara Teachers Demands:Final Reminder.”,a copy of which was made available to journalists in Ilorin on Friday .

The letter reads:”On the directives of the Kwara State Wing Executive Council (SWEC) of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), we write this FINAL REMINDER LETTER to you aimed at drawing your government’s attention, once again, to the unresolved demands of the Union (some dating back to early 2023) which Government has remained silent on, despite the series of reminder letters written on the issues by the Union and the diplomatic steps its State Leadership adopted.”

The issues are listed as follow:

•The non – implementation of 27.5% Teachers Specific Allowance (TSA) for SUBEB and TESCOM TRCN Certificated teachers on CONKWESS 1 as well as 21% for teachers without TRCN Certification who are in CONKWESS 2;

• Government refusal to financially back up the 2023 and 2024 Promotions of teachers under the employment of TESCOM even when they have been in possession of their various promotion letters;
• The non – implementation of 65/40 years new national retirement templates for public ‘school teachers; whereas over twenty one (21) State Governments in the federation and the FCT have implemented;
• Government refusal to pay Kwara teachers, the June, 2023 stipends for essential workers for their period of working extra days than the core Civil Service workers; and

•The deliberate refusal of the State Government to pay Kwara teachers the November, 2023 palliative of A 10,000. 00 (Ten Thousand Naira) each; whereas other workers in the State were paid.”

It added that,”arising from the foregoing, the Union wishes to categorically state that although the State Government has fared well in some other areas concerning Education, the pending issues listed above have remained highly vexacious to Kwara teachers; and hereby calls on Your Excellency to accord this FINAL REMINDER letter a sense of urgency so that the Education Sector in the State will not be plunged into industrial dispute.

“The endurance of the Union and teachers of Kwara State, is becoming very inelastic and a stitch in time will save nine!” concluded the letter .