Oyo Primary School Teachers Protest LG Autonomy
Primary school teachers under the aegis of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Oyo State wing, have protested the proposed local government autonomy.
The aggrieved teachers said that they embarked on the protest to discourage the federal government from allowing the local government to take over the responsibility of payment of their salaries as well as manage basic education in the state.
The teachers, who displayed banners and placards expressing their ill-feelings, said that they were not particularly against granting autonomy to the local government as a tier of government, but that they are not ready to suffer what used to be their ordeal in past years when local government enjoyed full autonomy.
The teachers later led a peaceful procession from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) state headquarters, Yidi Agodi, Ibadan, to the Oyo State House of Assembly complex to seek the understanding of the lawmakers following the proposed constitutional amendment.
The protesters were led by the state chairman, Comrade Samuel Akano, Secretary, Comrade Waheed Olojede and other executive members of the union.
Addressing the protesters before embarking on the protest rally, Comrade Akano said that the effort was in line with the directive of the National Executive Council to all state chapters to emphasise the stand of the NUT on the proposed local government autonomy.
“What we are saying concerning this local government autonomy is that we don’t want anything that will affect primary and basic education in Nigeria again.
“The payment of salaries and management of schools, even for the retirees in primary schools, we don’t want it to go to the local government, because if it goes to the LG, we will suffer similar things that we have experienced in the past and we don’t want that to happen again.
“We are moving to the legislative house to let the lawmakers know how far the National Assembly have done and to see the next line of action and if at all this autonomy is given to the local government, we don’t want the management of basic and primary education to be given with the autonomy.
“We want a situation whereby the idea of first line charge will be implored, where the money will be deducted directly from the local government and will be taken to the government agencies that will implement the payment of salaries of both serving and retired teachers in the state.
“This is why we are going on the streets, to let the people and particularly the lawmakers know so that at the end of the whole thing, we have every course to rejoice,” he said.
Comrade Olojede, who doubles as the NLC Chairman, said that the workers were not just on the street for nothing or for the fun of it, but for a purpose.
He said that the purpose was all about, “our responsibility as a union of teachers to protect, preserve and safeguard basic education in Nigeria.
“We want to impress it on the House based on the ongoing discussions and debate on the issue of LG autonomy that primary education and by extension, basic education in Nigeria should not be put under the whims and caprices of LG administration.
“The position of the Nigerian Union of Teachers is clear about this; that management and funding of primary education should be the sole responsibility of the state government, or in the alternative, for the Federal Account Allocation Committee to do a first line charge deduction from the federation account and such monies be credited to the purse of the Universal Basic Education Fund who will directly pay the teachers,” he said.
