Adedoyin Samson Tojuade is the chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers in Oyo State. In this interview with MODUPE GEORGE, he speaks about the state of primary school education and teachers’ welfare in the state. Excerpts
There were some issues surrounding your coming in as the new chairman, one of which was the allegation that the tenure of the former chairman was elongated, which members frowned at. How did you emerge as the chairman?
Actually, the election was slated for February 27, last year. You know politics will always be politics. In politics, all the contestants will try to outdo one another. As a result, we had so many obstacles on our way. The chairmanship position was zoned to Osun-Ogbomoso; and in Ogbomoso, we had three to four candidates who indicated their interests. After all said and done, the zone met. We have five local governments, out of which four were supporting my aspiration. As a result, we could not conclude at the zonal level. The issue was transferred to the state. At the end of the day, there was government interference. The other camp went to the government and they wanted to bring partisan politics into everything. They took a lot of steps and as a result, I was transferred from my base, Ogbomoso, to Oyo so that I would not have the opportunity to contest for the election. Not only that, it was from the classroom to an office. I was transferred to zonal office of the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Oyo – which is against all norms of the teaching profession. But to the glory of God, my people at home stood firm with me and they insisted that they wanted me to be the chairman. When the other camp saw that I still had an edge, at the tail end of the Feb 27, while we were at Igbora preparing for the election, we received news that they had gone to court. They sought court’s injunction to stop the election. Actually we wanted to continue with the election, not minding the court order, but our national president, Michael Olukoya Alogba, insisted that we should give peace a chance, so that the crisis could be resolved amicably. The election couldn’t hold again and definitely there shouldn’t be any vacuum. This was why the national headquarters decided that the incumbent then, Comrade Oluniyi Akano, should continue until we were able to resolve all issues and have the election. So, his extension wasn’t what he worked for, but situation warranted it.
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How true is the impression that NUT is against local government autonomy?
I want to correct that impression: we are not against local government autonomy. What we are saying is that before they are given the autonomy, they should set aside our money – that is, the payment of the primary school teachers from the federal allocation – into a separate account. We came to this position based on the past experiences. We had been directly under them in the past, but the experience was nothing to write home about. Immediately they do what we are asking for, they can have the autonomy. We are not against the autonomy. Our position is that our money should not go directly into the local government account. Presently we are operating Joint Allocation Account Committee, where the local and state government and SUBEB personnel sit together when fund comes from the federal government to deduct our money centrally. Our position is that that should continue or in the alternative, let them give us a commission, where the money would be paid directly to before the rest is given to the local government.
However, presently in Oyo State, the committee has paid our primary teachers up to November last year.
The primary school education has been said to be the bane of tertiary education. What are you going to do to ensure that this doesn’t continue?
Truly, primary school education is the foundation upon which other levels are built and when you don’t have a good foundation, you know what will happen to the building. This is what is affecting us. However, it is not only the NUT that will put in all the efforts for a change to take place. We want to appeal to the government to pay our teachers as and when due. A hungry man is an angry man. When teachers at the primary level don’t have money to feed themselves, you don’t expect them to put in their maximum efforts in the classroom. Everyone has a role to play in the race to improve our primary school education, most especially the government; they are the major stakeholders. The parents also have their roles to play. Most of our parents in the public schools are not putting anything into the education of their children. Without collaborative efforts of all the stakeholders, we are not going anywhere.
We are seriously going to engage the government on the importance of primary education. Everyone needs to be conscious of the importance of primary education to tertiary education. We are going to sensitise parents to be up and doing towards the primary education of their wards.
Do you know that at the primary level, we don’t have school levies; there are certain needs to be met. When parents are sensitized, it is after then we can move to the teachers who will implement government’s policies. Government should ensure it does what is right, and then we would be able to convince parents that they cannot leave everything to the government.
Are the School Governing Boards established in 2016 by the state government not affecting primary school education in any way?
No doubt, the SGB programme has really improved the academic environment in the state, most especially at the secondary school level, but not so at the primary school level. At the secondary school level, a token of N1,000 per term is paid by the students as education development levy. The council members use the N1,000 judiciously for the development of the schools, involving also the old students, community and other stakeholders in the process. However, at the primary schools level, education is totally free. What we are saying to the government is that it should take a critical look at the infrastructure development of primary schools in the state.
If government is not collecting any fee from the primary school pupils, then, it should dedicate a special grant or intervention fund to its development. Our position is that pupils should be asked to pay token in their respective schools. Parents cannot leave everything to the government.
Has anything changed concerning the issue of shortage of teachers at both the primary and secondary schools levels in the state?
When you consider the number of teachers who are retiring out of the service on a yearly basis, you will realise that we no longer have enough qualified teachers in the classrooms again. Instead of employing more teachers, the government is now making use of the N-Power teachers. These are the people who are employed for two years by the Federal Government in its effort to create jobs for the citizenry. These people are deployed to schools to teach on contractual grounds for a period of two years and are paid a token of N30,000. Most of these people are not trained teachers. More so, the schools where they are posted don’t have much control over them. So, they do whatever they like. Apparently, government feels it has posted 20 N-Power teachers to your school and that should be enough to fill whatever gap there is. This situation is not helping at all. Government is no longer employing permanent and qualified teachers. And since these people know that they are working just for two years, they are not committed. While they are on the job, they look out for another one. Most of our schools today lack teachers, but when you go there, you see many people acting as teachers. The question is how many people are actually permanent or contract staff? That was what led us to our agitation over the extension of years of service from 35 to 40, or 65 years of age, just like it was extended at the tertiary level. What we are saying is if we cannot employ more, why can’t we make use of the experienced hands that we have before they are pulled out of the office? The bill to this effect is already in the National Assembly. It has gone through the third reading in the public hearing. We are now waiting for the National Assembly to reconvene and pass the bill for the assent of the president to become a law.
Can we share in your achievements since you have assumed office, as well as your future plans for the union?
The essence of having the NUT as an umbrella body is to fight for the welfare of our members. This is the primary aim; any other thing follows. And to the glory of God, since I assumed office in May last year up till now, we have been trying our best possible to get what is due to our members from the government. The present government is trying but there is room for improvement. In a situation where other workers in the state have had their salaries and primary school teachers are yet get theirs has been frowned at. Also, situations where government released promotion letters to us and it is not yet backed with financial implications have also been frowned at. I am here to ensure that the welfare of our members is fought for.