The chairman, Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Suleman Abdullahi, says teachers are being owed about N23 billion since the commencement of the new minimum wage in the state.
Abdullahi who spoke in an interview in Lokoja at the weekend said government had also not been paying the teachers about N8.7billion leave grant for the past four years.
According to him, with this development, there cannot be any commitment from a teacher “who is sick and hungry, and not sure of what he would be paid and when he would be paid”.
He said government should show more commitment and be proactive on the welfare of teachers because they could neither pay medical expenses of their loved one nor feed well while being ejected from rented houses.
The chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mallam Nuhu Ahmed, said the N23 billion minimum wage claimed by the teachers was outrageous as he did not know the criteria used in arriving at such an amount.
On the N8.7 billion leave grant, he said the board had set up a committee including the NUT to work out the exact amount and submit it to government which was already paying leave grants through the ministries.
