Still in the Trenches

Aja-Nwachukwu, Education Minister

The industrial action embarked upon by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), paralysises academic activities in public schools, even as other academic Unions threaten to join the strike
By Bayo Bernard
Bell's Group of Schools in Ogun State, a private educational concern owned by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is among the few private schools that incurred the wrath of members of the National Union of Teachers, NUT, the umbrella body of teachers in public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria, penultimate week. The aggrieved NUT members piqued by the Bell’s refusal to join the on-going nationwide strike had stormed the premises of the private school to enforce compliance. But three weeks into the strike, several other private schools have continued normal academic work, while activities in public schools, attended majorly by children of poor and average income earners, have been totally grounded by the industrial action, without any hope of amicable resolution of the stalement between the federal authorities and the teachers.
Teachers in public primary, secondary and Technical colleges all over the country had initially embarked on a three-day warning strike on Wednesday, June 4, before blossoming into an all-out industrial action over the refusal of the federal government to order an implementation of the Teachers Salary Scale, TSS scheme agreed upon with the teachers.
In Lagos State, for example, pupils of public primary and secondary schools were seen roaming the streets, while several parents complained of dire consequences if the strike is allowed to persist.
The same situation exist in Osun, Ogun and Ondo states and other parts of the country where the teachers have compelled their members to down tools.
In Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), The Source gathered that the NUT has intensified efforts to picket private schools which have refused to join the nationwide strike.
However, the strike has opened a new wave of debate over government’s sincerity to rejuvenate the falling standards of public schools. Some who spoke with The Source condemned the government's lukwarm attitude in turning around the fortunes public schools attended mostly by children of poor Nigerians who cannot afford the exhorbitant school fees charged by privately-owned schools.
Basically, the deliberate policy of government which tends to make private schools flourish at the expense of the public ones, has recently come under fire from prominent Nigerians, academics and public commentators.
Already, the industrial action has elicited the sympathy of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, which condemned the gory situation of public schools and has given an indication that it would join the strike if the federal government turns down entreaties to ‘settle’ the NUT.
Asuu president, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, told journalists last week that his members will embark on strike in solidarity with the NUT if the grey areas are not resolved by the end of last week.
Condemning government’s refusal to fund public education in the country, the university don said the current situation was allowed to continue because government officials have the resources to send their children and wards to private schools – a luxury which many Nigerians cannot afford.
Already, the insistence of private schools to continue academic activities has drawn a knife between NUT and owners of private primary and secondary schools across the country.
The NUT has intensified its effort to force compliance by directing its affiliates in the states to shut down 'erring' private schools, contending that the action was to make the children of the rich in the elite schools suffer what their parents obviously inflicted on the poor.
But inspite of the crippling effects of the strike, the federal government appears not ready to back down on its decision not to issue the circular on the TSS. Government’s argument is that doing so would cripple the financial capability of many states in the country and that it would amount to forcing the state governments to pay the TSS – an action which it said contravenes the spirit of federalism operated by the nation.
The teachers on their part had expected that the government would drop its hard stance penultimate week during a jaw-jaw session with federal Government officials led by Babagana Kingibe, Secretary to the of the Federation (SGF) and included Minister of Education, Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu and his Labour counterpart, Alhaji Hassan Lawal.
Aja-Nwachukwu had told the bewildered teachers that there was no going back on government’s decision. The Education Minister had during the warning strike stated the resolution of the federal government to implement the TSS for teachers in its own schools, arguing that it was not within the powers of the Ministry of Education to increase teachers salary. “The position of the government on the NUT is that the federal government is determined and committed to paying the teachers’ salary structure to teachers in Federal Unity Colleges,” the minister had said.
The teachers demand for the TSS started in 1991, after a memo was submitted by the NUT to the Minister of Education followed by a four-week strike which ended with a memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the union and the federal government.
Four years after, precisely in 1995, the NUT pressed home its demand after the government refused to fulfill its part of the bargain, a situation that led to the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee by the federal government to work out the implementation of the TSS.
But it was not until 2007 that the then Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, under the administration of ex-President Obasanjo presented an executive memorandum for the approval of the TSS to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Inspite of this, the teachers are still wondering why 15 years after the TSS has remained in the cooler. Contrary to the argument of Aja-Nwachukwu that the bulk rests on the table of the National Salary and Wages Commission, The Source gathered that the commission has issued a report sanctioning the implementation of the TSS.
The teachers, however, appear to enjoy the solidarity of many Nigerians especially industrial unions who are backing their demands.
According to The Source’s checks, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC has already stepped up effort to assist the teachers into forcing the government unto a compromise.
The NLC penultimate week in Abuja held meetings with proprietors of private schools on the need to support the NUT. It has also directed its state councils to grant the teachers all the assistance they need to ensure the success of the strike.
Both the government and NUT have continued to point accusing fingers on each other over the stalemate. While the NUT contends that it was not ready to re-open negotiation on the TSS, the federal government favours a re-negotiation of the agreement.
In a statement entitled, “The teachers Salary Scale: The Real Issues," signed by the Deputy National President of NUT, Onem Nelson, and Secretary-General, Ikpe Obong, the union stated that the only condition for suspending the strike would be the issuance of the enabling federal circular creating the TSS.
The statement reads: “This is a simple matter that does not warrant the belligerence of the leadership of the Education Ministry and the seeming indifference of the federal government.
“It will also not help the government to continue to deploy some fake dissidents masquerading as Academic Staff Union of Secondary School (ASUSS) to break our rank,” the teaches warned. The only academic union that appears to be against the strike is the ASUSS, a break-away labour union from the NUT.