BY CONSTANCE EKE
Teachers in Imo State under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, 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 coronavirus pandemic
NUT Chairman, Imo State, Phillip Nwanshi, said as at September 2020, about 2,000 teachers have not been paid for about seven months.
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.
Nwanshi while speaking to newsmen in Owerri, stated that in Ngor Okpala LGA, no primary school teacher has been paid salary since March 2020.
“In Owerri West and other Local Governments, various number of teachers are yet to receive 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 take is not tenable.
“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 made it clear until teachers in the State get a favourable response from the State government after their meeting with the Accountant General on their salaries, they will never take part in the resumption of schools.
” If we every teacher 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 said