Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum has approved workers’ promotions and a minimum wage of N30, 000 for Local Education Authority (LEA) teachers across the state.
No less than 5,439 teachers are to benefit from the Governor’s approved minimum wage, as council teachers’ monthly salaries stood at about N7, 000.
Zulum unveils the promotions and approvals, yesterday (Thursday), at a meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at Government House, Maiduguri.
According to him, the approvals of the minimum wage are only for teachers that passed competency tests conducted in 2019.
“The teachers at Local Council level had passed basic literacy and numeracy tests conducted by a committee constituted in 2021,” he said.
Besides, he added that 2, 389 teachers had no academic qualifications, including secondary school certificates, while 3, 815 of them could not be retrained by the state government.
On the Committee’s Report, he said: “It assessed 17,229 council teachers across. Out of this number, 11, 790, representing 69 percent of the entire teachers are unqualified to teach in primary and secondary schools.”
The Governor lamented that some primary school teachers had been receiving scandalous salaries that were less than N10, 000 a month.
To prevent the scandalous situation, he noted that there is need to overcome the challenges of ghost teachers in the councils’ primary education system and at the State level.
He, therefore, directed that no civil servant is to sacked or retrenched by the state government.
Instead, he said that the affected workers are to be retrained, while others reassigned to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) outside the education sector.
According to him, about 7, 975 teachers or 46.3 percent of them could be trained to overcome the dearth of teachers in the state.
“We’ll support the training of first batch of 1, 000 teachers,” he said, adding that this will further their education through a special in-service training facilities.
He noted that this would enable the teachers to go back to tertiary institutions, as full time students, and earn their monthly salaries.
“The 7, 975 unqualified teachers could only be enlisted for a minimum wage; after completing their training as qualified teachers,” he said.
At yesterday’s meeting with labour executives, Zulum directed the submission of a comprehensive lists of all existing vacancies and eligible civil servants.
He said that this is preparation to the conduct of promotional examinations for civil servants this year.
He also pledged to look into all other issues raised by the labour leaders, adding that the government will work with chairmen of Local Councils to overcome the challenges of ghost workers.
Responding, the NLC Chairman, Comrade Yusuf Inuwa thanked the Governor for his commitment to the welfare of workers.
He called on the attention of the Governor and on other areas, including the payments of promotion benefits and leave grants.
