There are indications that the planned industrial action Abia by the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers may not begin from Thursday as the State government has made moves to prevent the Teachers from going ahead.
The NUT, had last week served the State government a notice of strike, following the claim of non implementation of Teachers Salary Structure, TSS, the newly approved retirement policy among other complaints.
The Union, who spoke through their State Chairman, Madu Friday and the Secretary, Nnenna Okonkwo, further complained of the non release of monthly imprest for school principals and school heads approved by Governor Alex Otti.
However addressing journalists on Tuesday after this week’s executive council meeting, Abia State Commissioner for information, Prince Okey Kanu said that the State government is taking steps to address the complaints of the teachers.
According to him, the Commissioner for basic and secondary education, Goodluck Ubochi is already on the matter and would be meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, to address the issues they raised.
He accused the members of the opposition in the State of blowing up the news beyond the real issues.
“Yes, we have a section of teachers who are not happy about certain issues concerning their remunerations, owing partly to some differences between the salaries of primary school teachers and their counterparts in the junior secondary schools”, Okey Kanu said.
Prince Kanu insisted that Abia teachers have been receiving their minimum wage of N70,000 and have had their retirement age increased by Governor Alex Otti from 60 years to 65 years, in addition to some incentives were introduced by the State government for teachers,
