YOU ARE MISREPRESENTING EKITI TEACHERS- APC TELLS NUT BOSS

 
The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has berated the statement credited to the State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) , Comrade Samuel Akosile, disowning the  teachers who apologised to former Governor Kayode Fayemi in a live radio programme over their opposition to him during the June 21, 2014 governorship poll. The party said the NUT boss is misrepresenting the interest of the teachers.

In a statement by State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, the party described the statement as unfortunate if it was actually signed by Akosile.

"The statement does not represent the collective views of the teachers who celebrated Christmas in hunger compared to the pomp  with which they celebrated previous Christmas under Governor Kayode Fayemi," Olatubosun said.

He challenged Akosile to deny the various welfare packages for teachers during Fayemi's administration ranging from salary increment four times to promotion of teachers which had been suspended by previous administrations.

"The Teachers Development Needs Assessment (TDNA), which Akosile said was meant to sack the teachers, was a ploy to deceive the public and paint  Fayemi's administration in bad light. The TDNA was to know their areas of strengths and weaknesses and then train them for professional proficiency and sound output," Olatubosun explained.

The APC spokesman regretted that the opposition used the likes of Akosile to twist the good intention of the administration, saying that TDNA over which Fayemi was demonised had been made compulsory by the PDP-led Federal Government, which he noted was a vindication of Fayemi's policy.

Tasking the NUT boss to explain what Fayose between 2003 and 2006 did for teachers apart from buying ankara for them on Teachers' Day after deducting the cost from their salaries, Olatubosun listed Fayemi's life-lifting schemes for teachers, saying:

"Teachers got increase in their salaries four times. From N7,500 minimum wage that Fayemi met in 2010 , he increased it to N13, 000 while teachers also got 33% relativity pay and later the wage was increased to N19, 300 with teachers getting their 27.5% pecuniary allowance.

"Akosile also forgot to mention that under Fayemi's administration, teachers were paid 20% of their salary as Core Subject allowance for those teaching core subjects and another 20% as rural posting allowance as incentive for those posted to rural areas. But today, all these allowances have been stopped by Akosile's "teachers-friendly" Governor Fayose.

He said Akosile also failed to say that 1,953 primary school teachers  whose promotions were pending since 2010 were promoted in 2012 while another 2,300 were promoted in 2014 even as1,019 public schools (Primary and Secondary) were renovated by Fayemi's administration. 

"It is mischievous that Akosile did not tell us that Ekiti State won the best Nigerian Secondary School Teachers and second best Primary School Teachers awards in 2013," he said, ‎adding that some senior principals whose highest grade was previously pegged at Level 16 were elevated to grade Level 17 as tutors-general as applicable in the Civil Service. He said if these were not incentives to teachers, "may be going hungry at Christmas as witnessed last December was an incentive from the teacher-friendly governor".

"Fayose deducted N200m from teachers salary under the pretext of buying Christmas gifts only to give them kwashiokor-infested chickens and other disgraceful items not worth N700 in return. Fayemi did not deduct teachers’ salary but paid them their salaries on December 18, paid them leave bonus, 30% of their salary as bonus and also paid 20% core subject and rural allowance during Christmas. Akosile should ask Governor Fayose on behalf of teachers why he has refused to pay their September salary despite receiving that month’s allocation.

"Once again, APC  has  accepted the apology of the teachers who are remorseful over the way they treated Governor Fayemi because they have realised that they were misled to do so by those who are now at the helm of affairs and whose agenda is to create problems for the teachers who were having the best of times under Fayemi's administration," Olatubosun said, even as he advised the teachers to be discrete in choosing the leaders that will not trade off their welfare for a pot of soup.