The Borno Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has appealed to Gov. Kashim Shettima to use the third tranche of the Paris Club refund to clear teachers’ entitlements.
The state Chairman of the NUT, Mr Bulama Abiso, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday.
Abiso said that some retired teachers in Borno had yet to be paid pensions and gratuities, while serving teachers were being owed salaries.
“The Federal Government has advised state governments to use between 50 and 75 per cent of their shares of the refund to clear arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities.
“The Borno Government must, therefore, utilise the money to settle arrears of the entitlements of retirees, some of whom have been waiting since 2009.
“The government used the previous fund to settle part of pensions and gratuities, but much needs to be done to fully address this problem,” he said.
Bulama said that the education sector could not be revolutionalised without government giving priority attention to teachers’ welfare.
The chairman said that the state government had yet to pay death benefits to families of 500 teachers killed by Boko Haram in the course of their duties across the state.
He said that the NUT had been catering for the welfare of over 1,500 widows and 2,500 children of the slain teachers.
“Some of the teachers left three wives, some had even four wives, and the NUT has never received any intervention either through the government or UN agencies to support our teachers.
“While it is paramount for the government to focus attention on the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement, there is also the need for them to focus directly on the educational sector.
“There are about one million children roaming the streets of Borno without going to school.
“There are also more than 500,000 of vulnerable unaccompanied children who don’t even know their parents as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency,” Abiso said.
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The chairman, who commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the North-East Development Commission Bill into law, hoped that the law would fully address the menace of Boko Haram in the state. (NAN)