Comrade Oladimeji Ismail Raji is the current state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Oyo State Wing. He speaks to MODUPE GEORGE on his achievements in office, elongation of service, efforts of the state government in transforming education in the state, among other issues.
You seemed to have been steering the ship of this great union effortlessly, what’s the secret and how has it been?
I thank God Almighty for giving me the opportunity to serve as the state chairman of the Nigerian Union of teachers (NUT), Oyo State Wing. Having served as the branch chairman of the Ibadan South West Local Government between 2012 and 2016, I also had the privilege of serving as the state treasurer of the union. All the experiences that I have garnered have helped me in running the union’s affairs at the state level. To me, experience is key in life and that has been the secret behind my success aside from offering prayers to God.
In your capacity as the number one teacher in Oyo State, how will you describe the present state of education?
I want to appreciate God Almighty and the executive governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde for providing an enabling environment for teachers to really perform their fundamental professional obligation unlike before, when teachers were not happy. I’m glad to say that teachers are now willingly going to classrooms to perform their duties without any hitch or form of agitation. Majority of our schools are wearing new looks and of recent, there was this opportunity that has been extended to Oyo State in the form of a grant from the World Bank for renovation of more schools in the state, of which the proper implementation will commence soon. This will no doubt capture a lot of schools and that means that more of our schools will yet wear a new look in terms of infrastructure development. The renovation exercise will also take care of the long-awaited perimeter fencing of many schools in the state.
Apart from this, teachers’ welfare has been given all the necessary attention. The government does not owe us salary; we are getting our salaries as and when due, we are now at par with other sectors, unlike before when secondary schools teachers will get their salaries and the primary schools teachers would have to wait for about two to three months arrears of unpaid salary. Right now, both the primary and secondary teachers are paid at the same time and there are no unpaid salary arrears as we speak. The leave allowance for last year has also been approved and the ministry has ordered its disbursement. There are other states of the federation, especially the ones around us that have not paid their leave allowance since 2014. Some of the issues surrounding education in the south west geopolitical zones or across the states have been resolved here.
In some of our states, the salary of primary school teachers is not the same as the salary of their counterparts in the secondary school. Now, it is whatever teachers at the primary school level is getting that their counterparts in the secondary school will also be paid. In some states, the ‘27.5 Teachers Salary Structure,’ which is a peculiar allowances for teachers is not being paid, but we are getting it here in Oyo.
There are so many opportunities that this present administration has introduced. Take for instance, in the aspect of career progression, teachers in primary school can now move up to levels 16 and 17 unlike in other states. Before now, the levels to which primary school teachers could get to are levels 14 and 15. The governor actually started this with the secondary school teachers about two years ago by moving some of our teachers to level 17. So, it does matter if you are teaching in primary or secondary school, the bottom line now is that you can rise to levels 16 and 17. This is really a kind of impetus to some of our teachers; because it has eradicated the craving to cross from primary to secondary school. Aside from all these, some of our teachers are now Permanent Secretaries and Tutor-Generals. These are opportunities that have eluded us for so many years. The governor first started with 11 teachers from TESCOM and then with additional 11 teachers under the Ministry of Education who are named ‘Inspector-General of Education/Permanent Secretaries while those under the TESCOM are called Permanents/Tutor- Generals. Really, a lot is going for the education sector in this state.
Can we share in your achievements in the space of two years that you have been charting the course of this union?
Our achievements since we came on board are basically in two forms. We made the government see the stagnation that existed in the career progression of our teachers in the primary schools, whereby they cannot move beyond levels 13 to 14. Today, that no longer exists because our primary school teachers can now move up to levels 16 and 17. Also, we have been able to settle the issue of ‘secondment,’ which has been on for the past seven years. Part of the efforts is lobbying and appealing to the government to recruit more teachers which has now culminated into the approvals that have just been given at both the secondary and primary levels. This is coupled with the fact that bonuses are not being owed to our teachers anymore. In fact, teachers have benefited so much from this administration, in that teachers no longer wait endlessly for months or even a year like it used to before getting their pension. Now, you are paid between one or two months. These are some of the things that we have achieved in terms of welfare.
Then, in terms of infrastructure development, not too long from when we assumed office, we hosted a national delegate conference which was attended by Education International; big wigs in the education sector as well as relevant education stakeholders. We also embarked on the renovation of our office and then the construction of our mini stadium at the NUT model college in Ibadan here, which is the first of its kind in the labour circle throughout the country. No labour centre has ever embarked on such. Also, last year we initiated a model primary school to serve as a feeder school to the college.
As we speak, enrollment at the school has moved to about 100. The Ministry of education has sent its delegation to study the modus operandis of the school in order to copy it as a pilot scheme for other private schools in the state. The delegation team was happy with what they met on ground; the standard of teaching among other things. Our committee in charge of monitoring visits the school without prior notice to watch the teaching staff while discharging their duties. The state government is happy about the development and has encouraged us to put adequate structure in place for effective teaching and learning to take place. We shall be commissioning the school in October all things being equal.While work is ongoing concerning the expansion of our guest house, the Saki project, among other developments in our zones have also not been left out. We are not resting on our oars yet, there is still a lot to be done.
It seems the issue of running costs for the primary schools has not been addressed?
After all said and done, we are like a typical Oliver Twist; we will continue to ask for more. Meanwhile, the government has paid the running grants in secondary schools only with the exception of the second term of this academic session which is being worked upon. Concerning our primary schools, at our meeting with His Excellency, we looked at the possibility of bringing in the local governments to be paying the running costs instead of the state picking up that responsibility. Truth be told, the local governments, which actually own the public primary schools should take up the responsibility. This is just a meagre amount of money, which will only become huge when piled up. This is what we’re working towards.
There’s this issue of increase in length of service from 40 to 60 years of age and extension of service, can you clear the coast on this?
This is not the making of NUT, Oyo State or Nigeria. It is the recommendation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Education International. They discovered that the majority of our teachers are exiting the system on a daily basis and that in the nearest future; we may end up not having teachers in our schools. Having schools without teachers will create a lot of crises in the system. The solution they proffered was that extension should be given to some of these serving, aging and experienced teachers such that, when the new ones are recruited, they are brought under their tutelage to learn about the nitty-gritty of teaching before they exit. So, it was as a result of this that the Federal Government took up the demand for legislation at its two chambers. Hence, the former president, Muhammadu Buhari signed it into law and up till now, only 13 states have domesticated it
Is Oyo State among the compliant states?
No, Oyo has not implemented it. The issue has been at the state level and I think the delay is traceable to the peculiarity of each state; while some people are asking their government to domesticate the directive, some are for recruitment. However, one point that is key is that the new teachers need to work with the experienced ones, who have got the all-round training; they went through the teacher training colleges, NCE among others. The Oyo State government initiated a committee some time ago to look into the matter, so, it is waiting for the various reports of the committee which must be harmonised for action. Likewise, other states are waiting to study the situation and to ensure that they come out with perfect systems that will actually work for their states.
There was this news about the elongation of your tenure of office, how true?
It was actually an extension of service, not tenure of office. This has given me the opportunity to continue as the chairman of this great union. If my service has not been extended, there’s no way I’ll be here today because whoever is going to be the chairman of NUT must be paying his dues and must also be a serving teacher. After my expiration of years in service, His Excellency, the executive governor of Oyo State considers it necessary to extend tenure of service, which has given me the opportunity to remain a teacher in Oyo State and to continue as the NUT chairman. A retiree cannot continue as the NUT chairman. I have spent two years in the office as the chairman of NUT, with two more years remaining to complete my tenure of office, so, the extension of office has covered this. I do not have the power to elongate my tenure of office; it is the governor who reserves the right to extend the service of any of his employees in the state. I want to use this opportunity to appreciate the governor, my people for the understanding and support, the elders’ forum of the NUT Oyo State Wing, who actually work round the clock to make sure that it was resolved amicably.
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