El-Rufai to pay salary arrears of 8,500 teachers in Kaduna

GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has said the state govenment is ready  to ensure that  payment  of  salary arrears which   local governments owe about 8,500 new teachers out of 39,000 primary school teachers  is paid this week.

In a statement issued by Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser on Media and Communication on Saturday, el-Rufai expressed his disappointment with the local governments over non-payment  of  the affected workers.

“After briefings from the Ministry of Local Government and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the state government has established that the 23 local government councils are owing second batch teachers about N1.8bn in payments for January to May 2019.

“To conclusively address the matter, the state government has guaranteed an overdraft from a commercial bank to enable all the councils to pay the outstanding sums to the affected teachers immediately,” the statement added.

While apologising to the affected teachers for the delay, the Special Adviser warned that  “Kaduna State government will not allow any local government council to treat its obligations to teachers with levity.’’

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He promised that “the necessary administrative adjustments to address this regrettable lapse are being taken. The state government is determined that the priority it accords to education must be reflected and shared at the local level as well.’’

Adekeye also stated that “the 23 local government councils in Kaduna State have paid salaries for September and October 2019 in accordance with the new national minimum wage.’’

The statement further said that el Rufai  has also directed an end to the dichotomy in the timing of salary payments at state and local government levels.

It said “the governor has directed that ‘’salary payments for state government and local government employees will henceforth be synchronised. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government will ensure that all public servants in the state are paid around the same time monthly.’’