Youths blame NUT President for Kaduna teachers mass sack

The Nigeria Youth for Positive Change (NYPC) has blamed the National President, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Michael Alogba, for the mass sack of teachers in Kaduna and Ogun states.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the group said the NUT president has been misinforming the teachers of the gains in the provisions in the proposed local government autonomous, rather than fight the course of the teachers.

National Coordinator of NYPC, Comrade Nasiru Kabir, however, called on the teachers not to allow themselves to be misled about the gains an autonomous local government will bring to their development and that of the country generally.

While blaming the NUT president for the sack, the group said he has been trying to misinformed teachers on who will be responsible for payment of their salary when an autonomous local government system is achieved.

Comrade  Kabir, a Labour leader assured that with the provision in the local government autonomous proposal, teachers in the country have nothing to fear once full autonomy is granted to local government areas

He tasked the teachers to demand from their national president why he was not at the protest rally held by the NLC in Kaduna to protest against the sack of 22,000 teachers by the Kaduna State government if he had their interest at heart.

He wondered why the national leadership of the NUT will back the Joint State Local Government Account which has been described as conduit of massive looting of local government funds by state governors and has led to massive underdevelopment of the local government areas.

Kabir explained that following the Supreme Court judgement of April 2004, payment of teachers salaries should be the responsibility of both state and local government.

He said besides, under the new agreement reached, there will be special account for the purpose of teachers salaries and other allowances

He said the youth coalition cannot understatnd the NUT president position even when their fear about teachers  salary was well addressed in the bill passed by the National Assembly for considering the salaries on first line charge by an edict of each state assembly when the bill is finally become a law.

He said, “obviously the NUP president has something to hide. There is something he certainly isn’t telling his members. But we usged teachers in the country to begin to ask necessary questions.  Why was their national president conspicuously missing during the rally in Kaduna. In Ogun, teachers have been retired compulsorily, and the NUT president isn’t doing anything”

He therefor appealed passionately to the teachers in Nigeria to support other major stakeholders in ensuring LG is liberated for prompt development of the grassroots.