Kogiflame. com
Primary School teachers in Kogi State have been paid yet another 20 percent salary by the state government through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
With this percentage which has overtime become a recurring trend in the welfare of the teachers, there seems to be no early end in sight.
It was gathered that, the payment of the March salary came on the heels of reports on the plights of the teachers, and their counterparts at the local government level.
While the teachers cried out over nonpayment of salaries at the eve of Sallah celebration, the local government workers who got 25 and 30 percent rejected theirs.
Perhaps, their cry got the response of the government, hence the swift payment of another 20 percent as confirmed to by one of the teachers whose story was depressing.
“Our bank gave us the opportunity to collect Payday loan before our salary arrives, and I took twenty thousand naira hoping that there would be an improvement, even if it’s 5 percent increase. Yesterday, I got my salary alert in kobo because the bank took their money immediately it entered.
“We are suffering. Majority of us are now hypertensive, yet we cannot even see anything to cover for medication and food. Until God returns smiles on our faces, I am beginning to believe that God decided to punish us for letting us suffer this way,” one of the teacher lamented.
The Kogi State chairman Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Comrade Thomas Ayodele on Saturday confirmed this to our reporter.
Comrade Ayodele noted that, “there is slow pace of remittance of local government teacher’s salary to State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
“As we speak, only six out of the 21 Local Government teachers have started receiving percentage salary. We equally frowned at this percentage salary as our primary school teachers have continued to face untold hardship in the state”.