Teachers’ Day: Pay Teachers’ Salaries, NUT Tasks Governors

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Tuesday urged governors defaulting on teachers salary arrears to use their remaining months in office to pay off the arrears.

This concern was raised by the Secretary-General of the Union, Dr Mike Ike-Ene, in an interview in Abuja ahead of the World Teachers’ Day.

The World Teachers Day with the theme: “Teachers at the heart of education recovery’ is celebrated on Oct. 5, every year to appreciate teachers for their great deeds.

Ike-Ene said that a good number of state governors owe primary school teachers and secondary schools months of salary arrears.

“Many of these teachers have lamented over the inability and irregularities of the state to pay their salaries as and when due following the current economic situation in the country.

“Some state governments owe primary school teachers a backlog of salaries ranging from four to 18 months,” he said.

He, however, commended the state governors who had been committed in paying teachers’ salaries as and when due.

The secretary general also encouraged teachers to keep on working hard not minding their salary scale.

He urged government at all levels to provide the enabling environment for teachers to function optimally.

“When a teacher enters a classroom, there are certain things the teacher is looking out for and when these things are there he or she can perform optimally,” he said.