Imo Teachers Blow Hot Over Unpaid Salaries

Everest Ezihe, Owerri

Teachers in Imo State under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have vowed to stay away from schools in the State even if the State government directs them to resume.

Schools in the State, like in any other part of the country, had remained shut because of the Corona Virus pandemic

NUT Chairman, Imo State, Phillip Nwanshi, said in Owerri that as at September 2020, about 2,000 teachers have not been paid for about seven months even as in Ngor Okpala LGA, no primary school teacher has been paid salary since March 2020

Nwanshi also informed that in Owerri West and other Local Governments, various number of teachers are yet to receive their salaries for more than seven months now.

It’s pertinent to recall that the outcry of the teachers is coming amidst widespread uproar among civil servants and pensioners who have continuously accused the State government of non payment of salaries.

Reacting to claims by the state government that it is workers who are yet to submit their BVN that have not been paid, Nwanshi said such defense is not true.

According to him “There is no way you can tell me that what is holding their salaries is BVN and the banks. We cannot believe that. You cannot tell me that the papers of all the teachers in Ngor Impala are wrong”

He said it point blank that until teachers in the State get a favourable response from the State government after their meeting with the Accountant General on their salaries this Monday (7/9/2020) they will never take part in the resumption of schools.

The NUT boss pointed out that “If every teacher in the state does not get his or her salaries up to date and if the Union does not get it’s check off dues, there is no possibility of schools re opening in Imo State” he insisted.