Furore over teachers’ unpaid salaries in Niger
It has indeed been turbulent for basic education in Niger State since March 2016 when the crisis over teachers’ unpaid salaries reared its head. It all started following the decision of the state government to abrogate the local government joint accounts in March last year in a bid to grant that tier of government autonomy.
The action had elicited criticisms especially from opposition political parties, with stakeholders cautioning that the development could have severe consequences. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through its state chairman, Tanko Beji, had described the governor’s action as unconstitutional.
Beji, who is a legal practitioner, noted that Governor Abubakar Sani Bello did not have the constitutional power to abrogate the ‘state local government joint account’. He said that the state local government joint account was a creation of the constitution, citing Section 162 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended saying, “No executive governor could by fiat abrogate the law.”
“We are watching and at the appropriate time we will take necessary action to protect the law,” he added.
Beji had also asked Governor Bello to account for the local government (LG) funds collected by the state since May 2015.
Various stakeholders who had also faulted the decision and argued against its workability on the ground that local government areas with huge staff population would likely be at the receiving end of such move as they may not be able to meet their salary obligation.
They also drew attention to the fact that some councils enjoyed more allocation than others, while some already have mounting debt profile and may fall short of meeting such commitment without intervention from the state government.
As predicted, payment of staff salaries became a herculean task for local government councils such as Agaie, Bida, Bosso, Gbako, Gurara, Katcha, Lapai, Lavun, Chanchaga, Paikoro, Shiroro and Suleja. Complaints of over bloated workforce and other sundry complications set in.
The situation prompted some of the local governments to embark on staff verification exercise which unearthed alleged anomalies such as ghost workers, ghost schools and certificate forgeries among others.
The chairman of Chanchaga Local Government lent credence to the allegations in a press briefing recently in his office, when he declared that the verification exercise initiated by the council revealed that 40 percent of the staff, including primary school teachers, forged certificates either to secure employment or for promotion.
Senior Assistant Secretary General of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Labaran Garba, said the issue was just an administrative complication created by those who were in charge of the process. “There are instances where teachers are transferred, let say from Suleja to Minna, and the affected persons were not moved along with their documents with such names still existing in their formal schools. So when a new chairman comes on board and he sees names of schools that do not exist in his council he termed them as ghost schools. And instead of the council heads to sit with officials to resolve the perceived anomaly they raise alarm that he has identified ghost schools but the teacher is physically in the said local government,” he explained.
He said there was no way such affected staff could collect double salary since the payment is effected centrally through the Ministry of Local Government.
On the alleged issue of certificate forgery uncovered by the screening committee, the NUT chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Umar said he could not completely exonerate teachers from the scandal.
“But how if I may ask, do such people get into the service in the first place because the NUT is not part of the recruitment process. So it is also as a result of the failure of the system,” he noted.
He also faulted the handling of the exercise by the councils, describing the process as cumbersome. He alleged that in the cause of the exercise, some chairmen discovered fund meant for the teachers cooperative and diverted same.
“As we speak now some of the chairmen were not able to refund such monies to the union,” he said.
He said the only way out of the salaries logjam is for government to revert back to NSUBEB, which has the statutory mandate to handle the matter.
He said the staff audit initiated by his administration in March 2016 also uncovered other shady transactions and manipulations punishable by relevant civil service laws.
Our correspondent learnt that with the commencement of the verification, payment of staff salaries became irregular.
“From March when the exercise commenced, payment of salaries began to delay, they started paying based on percentage, with only those cleared by the exercise benefiting,” Comrade Umar told Daily Trust.
He said the situation worsened through April, May and June with teachers not being able to receive their entitlements for the affected months.
“The situation degenerated to the point that teachers could not transport themselves to school. With the development, teaching and learning became affected prompting the NUT