All the tiers of government in the country will require at least N345 billion monthly to pay the new minimum wage for teachers in public primary and secondary schools, if the salary package proposed for teachers in the welfare scheme promised by the government in 2020 is to be fully implemented, findings by the Vanguard have revealed.
This is because the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, has about 2.3 million licensed teachers in its register who are mostly government employees, while the minimum wage proposed for teachers is N150,000 per month.
The Federal Government pays teachers in unity colleges, while state governments are in charge of secondary schools as local governments, in conjunction with states universal basic education boards, take care of primary schools.
However, the unfavourable economic situation in the country has left the government foot-dragging on the issues that have financial implications in the new scheme.
Even former President Muhammadu Buhari, who made the promise to teachers in 2020, only implemented the increment in the retirement age of teachers from 35 to 40 years of service and 60 to 65 years (whichever comes first).
As at the last count, only 15 of the 36 states in the country have jerked up the retirement age of teachers. Surprisingly, the Southwest region has not started implementing the new retirement age.
Govt frustrating us – NUT Speaking on the development, the Secretary General of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dr. Mike Ene, said the union was frustrated by lack of progress in the implementation of the scheme for teachers.
“Government knows how to frustrate people by pushing you from one agency and table to another. We are not sleeping on the matter, but we are not happy that the implementation of the scheme has been rather slow.
”With the economic and social situations in the country, one does not know where to start. We are still waiting for all those things we have been expecting since 2020. We are even waiting for what will be the living wage being contemplated for workers.
“I cannot say this is where we are. We are paying a courtesy call on the minister of education soon and when we are granted audience, it will be part of what we are going to table before him. ”We will also visit the labour minister. Apart from the new retirement age approved and implemented by the federal government and some states, nothing more has been done.
“It is very surprising that most states have not even implemented the new retirement age. Lagos State, for instance, is one of them. Why they are foot-dragging, one cannot say. ‘Another area of concern is that as teachers are retiring, most states are not recruiting new ones to replace them. Some states have not employed new teachers for the past five years. That is despite the shortage of teachers in many fields,” he said.
We’re hopeful – TRCN
In his reaction, the Registrar of TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, expressed hope that the administration of President Bola Tinubu would continue from where the Buhari government stopped.
“We are working on the current administration to make them continue from where their predecessors stopped. Former President Muhammadu Buhari implemented the new retirement age and some states followed suit. ”We are also taking it up with states to do that. We are surprised that Lagos State has not started the implementation of the new retirement age.
“The meeting of the National Council on Establishment, presided over by the Head of Service of the Federation where the issue of the new retirement age was finalized held in Lagos in December 2021 and Lagos State was part of it.
”Apart from the federal government, it is mostly states in the north that have started the implementation of the new retirement age.
“TRCN is not a labour union and we are doing our bit of the process, the NUT has a lot of role to play. We all know the economic situation in the country, so, even if it is about 50 per cent of the items that are implemented now, that is okay, ” he stated.
