TEACHERS of the 104 Federal Government Colleges and workers at the Federal
Ministry of Education, on Wednesday, insisted that the ongoing indefinite strike
embarked upon last week, will not be suspended until the N1.8 billion allowances
owed them are paid.
The leadership of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), which
declared the strike, last week, has further accused the two Ministers of Education,
Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and Nyesom Wike, of doing nothing to end the strike.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that effort by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief
Chukwuemeka Wogu, to resolve the impasse had proved abortive as the meeting held
at his instance, last week, was deadlocked.
It was gathered that Wogu had appealed to the leadership of ASCSN to suspend the
strike ,while concerted efforts were made to address the demands of the workers.
The indefinite strike had crippled all government activities at the Federal Ministry of
Education and the closed down of the 104 Unity Schools nationwide.
Some of the ministry officials, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, on Wednesday,
said the Ministry of Education currently lacks direction and focus and that President
Goodluck Jonathan, should as a matter of urgency, declare emergency in the sector to
salvage the rot in the system.
“For now, the two ministers have abandoned the ship of the ministry and you can see
that it is sinking. The Minister of State, you know for quite some time, has been in
Rivers than in Abuja, to oversee the affairs of the ministry.
“The luck they have is that we are sharing the building with the Ministry of Police
Affairs. Otherwise, what we intended doing was to lock them out. I can tell you that
we are all united in this struggle to see that Jonathan intervenes in this matter,” a
ministry official said.
Buttressing this, the Organising Secretary of the Association of Senior Civil Servants
of Nigeria, Musa Abbas, told theNigerian Tribune that there was no bending over
backward on the strike until the demands of the workers are addressed.
He said the workers had decided to embark on the indefinite strike when all avenues
of dialogue with management of the ministry had been exhausted without positive
result.
He added that the workers were aware that the sum of N1.8 billion was released by
the Federal Government to the ministry to settle all the outstanding salaries and
allowances of staff “but that is not to be”.
Abbas said: “All the staff are on strike, staff of the 104 Unity Schools, Federal
Inspectorate Offices and the headquarters, Federal Ministry of Education.
“Our grouse is that we want our entitlements paid to us. Since 2007, we have been
dialoguing with the management and they kept on promising. They collect money
from Federal Government and they will not pay the staff allowances. These are
promotion allowance, repatriation allowance, death benefits and so on.
“What they want to use the money for, is for their tours, because we are made to
understand that one of them is going to contest in an election and he is going to use
that money for his campaign expenses. That is why we have shut down the ministry
and until they do the needful, we won’t return back to work,” he said.
He revealed that “these allowances that have accumulated over the years include but
not limited to: outstanding promotion arrears for 2007-2010 and the balance of 2011;
arrears of salaries to some staff for July, August, September, and October 2013; end-
of-year incentives; non-payment of 1st 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation; 2010
mandatory training; repatriation allowance; duty tour allowance to affected officers,
etc.”
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Federal Government Wing, Comrade
Emeka Okonta, told Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday in Abuja, that the Unity Schools
will continue to remain shut as long as the Federal Government fails to address the
grievances of the teachers and other federal workers in the Ministry.
He said he was among those that were owed their salaries between July and October
2013, when the Integrated Payroll System was introduced by the government and up
till now nothing has been done by the Ministry to pay off the arrears.
Okonta said: “Unity schools are on strike now because of the backlog of arrears of
promotion of the staff. It is not only unity schools but the staff of the Federal Ministry
of education, as you know, some of our members are at the ministry as none teaching
staff, so all us put together are on strike. Both the ministry headquarters, the schools;
the inspectorate and other agencies that has to do with the ministry of education are
closed basically, because of backlog of arrears.
“This is as far back as 2007 till date, I am also involved, so you can imagine how it is.
And something happened last year, the ministry introduced divide and rule strategy
whereby some people were paid their arrears around June, July and August while
most people were not paid and all efforts to get the government to approve the
payment has proved abortive. There are many other issues but these are the basics,”
he said.
Although, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn
Nwaobiala had dismissed claims by Senior Staff Association of Nigeria that the
Ministry received the sum of N1.8 billion from the Federal Government to settle debt
owed the staff.
But the workers have insisted that concrete efforts must be made to off-set the
outstanding arrears as a basis for ending the strike.
Okonta said: “I heard that they met with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief
Chukwuemeka Wogu and government through the minister has been pleading that we
go back to classroom, but our members said we are not going back until that money
is paid or at least, when there is evidence that government has started doing
something concrete about the payments”.

Culled from Nigerian Tribune - www.tribune.com.ng/news/news-headlines/item/18127-n1-8-bn-arrears-unity-school-teachers-shun-fg-s-plea-on-strike

OMG!! Just commented first!! **Awww**



www..net

Getting there!!! Strted this mission 3dayz bck and av made fp 4times since den. Tnx 2 site owner 4 d bb app and to mtn.

Strikes...strikes and strikes everywhere.

.

ok

the strike have witnessed during jonathan era is more than the strike have witness through out my entire life...

well no prob Gej till 2015

Am in love wid my gal and she loves me
too but I don't trust her, she has begged me to trust
her countless times. But am d jealous type. She calls
some of her male frnds sweet names like boo, honey,
etc. I complained and she stopped it. I checked her
instagram page today(am not on instagram, used my
frnd's phone). I noticed she was calling some guys boo
and other stuffs. I don't wanna ask her to avoid fight.
Pls should I rest my mind and trust her even though
she keeps calling them boo??

When are they resuming?

Na wha o

The presidency spends over 5billion maintaining pets and gardens in Aso Rock and can't cough out a meagre 1.8billion to keep our children in school.

#LeadershipJonathanStyle.

Can this hopeless FG do something right for once?

-CramJones

Striking Every Time in Nigeria Is Now Rampant*modifield* Wike Is D The Thief Who Is Stealing Their Money To Campaign

No problem,its a transformation agenda.

Hmmmmm naija.. Smh vehemently

what kind of selfish and greed government do we have they spend billions of naira monthly to take care of their selves and their families but for them to spend common 1.8 billion naira is problem so children can go back to school .smh

stinggy:
.

since2005:
ok

austinbrown:
Ok

Chidexter:
ok

Sunnycliff:
Teachers vs Politicians

Abdulsalam20:
I JUST DEY MAKE FP........FOR SALE

justi4jesu:

Richardjemedafe:
Gh

Adenugay:
ok

bist:
.

Udodasco1:
Ok

MadCow1:
Make dem stirke

hello friends please don't forget to bring ur weekly contribution tomorrow. We will be having our next meeting in the other thread.

I JUST DEY MAKE FP........FOR SALE

Teachers vs Politicians

Heyliesha:
When are they resuming?

The strike is indefinite. But I'm sure its will not linger for long

OK

NIGERIA IS TAKING 2 STEP FORWARD AND 4 STEP BACKWARD

The fear of Ebola may be preventing them too. Ebola is from the devil! It started spreading faster through sex from a very promisquous region of Liberia. Everything that GOD created is good, but devil knows he has a very short time so he is trying every means to give man sorrow and use troubles to make men to worship him so that they can roast with him in hellfire. All Glory to GOD for he has deposited the Solutions into HIS Chilren, the Book of Roman 9:19-22 "The world groans and earnestly awaiting the manifestation of Children of GOD" Unfortunately, most of these awaited Great Men are rather lusting away, wasting their lives chasing girls and materialism, intead of disovering their Glorious Destinies. "Do u know how many thousands of beautiful girls from around the world started chasing Ben Carlson after he separated the siamese twins?! Remember David? Remember Daniel? Remember Joseph?!" This was the exact voice I heard that made me stop chasing girls, now they chase me but I'm too focused for that. 10,000 ladies started shouting David's name immediately he killed Goliat. Joseph prevented starvation n became a SuperStar, u don't even need to be a Pastor before fulfilling ur Glorious Destiny. The great Pharao King begged Joseph to marry his extreemly beautiful daughter because Joseph had discovered himself earlier. He knew wasted time can never be regained, so he focused on impacting his generation for GOD. We all have a "Goliat" we must kill to enter into the fulfilment of our Glorious Destiny. Immediately David killed Goliat, over 10,000 ladies started shouting his name, they even composed a song in his name singing on streets. Paul the King, ensured that David marry his beautiful daughter. Kill your Goliat first, then even Great men, Kings and Presidents would use their daughters to beg you. GOD wants to manifest you not as a Pastor but as a Great Man; you could be the one that would make food cheap in Nigeria, you could be the one that's supposed to bring the solution to tribalism in Nigeria, etc... The Book of Romans 9:19-22 says "The world groans, eanestly awaiting the manifestation of Sons of GOD" U n I refusing to kill our Goliats is why Nigeria is still suffering! Your own Goliat could be smoking, drunkeness, lust for girls etc... Kill ur Goliat, fulfill ur Glorious Destiny and beautiful Princesses would knee to you. So help us GOD IJN. -*

Everything seems to be falling apart for this govt. Next they will blame opposition. Shey na opposition say make una no pay allowances?

pls resolve it as fast as u can and let my sister go bk 2 skl......please

Our grouse is that we want our entitlements paid to us. Since 2007, we have been
dialoguing with the management and they kept on promising. They collect money
from Federal Government and they will not pay the staff allowances. These are
promotion allowance, repatriation allowance, death benefits and so on.
“What they want to use the money for, is for their tours, because we are made to
understand that one of them is going to contest in an election and he is going to use
that money for his campaign expenses.

An average Nigerian in power is heartless

ok

Ok

ddooskie:
Strikes...strikes and strikes everywhere.

blame the government my dear. you can't touch a worker's salary without expecting reactions from them. before they embark on strike, there are series of negotiations. the problem us the the government is often irresponsible and unreliable.