A last-minute effort to avert a teachers’ strike in Nigeria failed Tuesday, setting the stage for the three-day warning strike to begin Wednesday.
Talks between representatives of the federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the capital city of Abuja could not resolve the differences between both sides.
That means teachers in public primary, secondary and technical schools across the nation will embark on the first phase of their planned strike from Wednesday (11June).
Already, the strike has received the backing of the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and civil society organisations.
Education Minister Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu, who led the government delegation, said Tuesday’s meeting was ”fruitful”, but the teachers’ representatives insisted the government must issue a circular backing up its willingness to grant the demand by the teachers for a ”Teachers Salary Scale”.
Though the Minister said the government had proposed a 27.5% enhance allowances for teachers in federal government colleges, he noted that it was up to the states to determine whether or not they could pay the enhanced rate to their own teachers.
“We showed them evidence that we are working very hard to ensure we implement it at our own (schools), but it is not our responsibility to negotiate salaries for states and local governments,” he said.
There are fears the strike could affect the ongoing national examination council (NECO) for secondary school students. Panapress .
