Primary School and Junior Secondary School Teachers all over Kwara state have commenced indefinite strike action to protest the non-payment of three months salaries.
While addressing journalists, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Alhaji Abubakar Musa, said hungry teachers cannot be forced to work in the classrooms.
He said “there is no way the hungry teachers could deliver effectively, it is better for teachers to stay at home until the Government is capable of paying them.”
The Kwara State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress also appealed to the teachers to suspend the strike.
In a release by its Publicity secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, the party said, “as a party, we wish to state that we feel the concerns and share in the pains of primary school teachers in Kwara State. Quite unfortunate, this issue is chiefly caused by the dwindling allocation from the federation account.
“Therefore, it is not about non-payment of teachers’ salaries but non-availability of funds to pay salaries. It requires collective efforts to address rather than strike action, if the resources are available today, the Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed-led Kwara State Government will pay all teachers like it has always done in the past five years.”