NUT protest against the sack of unqualified primary school teachers

….assembly properties vandalised by protesters – Speaker

The Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ), President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba on Wednesday led workers on streets protest in Kaduna State capital, against plan by the state government to sack 21,780 teachers.

Meanwhile, the protest which terminated at the state House of Assembly left some properties within the assembly complex destroyed.

The protesting workers demanded that, the government should rescind its decision or have the entire labour force to contend with.

Marching and singing anti government song along major roads in the state capital, and carrying placards with various inscriptions, the workers asked the Kaduna state government not to sack the teachers for failing to pass the competency test administered on them sometime in June this year.

They argued that government has no constitutional powers to organize such exam for teachers, saying only the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has the mandate to do so.

They also gave the state government two weeks to cancel the planned dismissal of teachers, or they will embark on an indefinite strike.

Addressing the workers, Mr, Waba assured them that the leadership of the NLC will support them and ensure that they get what they deserve from the state government.

The Nation gathered that, the protest was jointly organised by the state chapters of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

The local government employees, were said to be protesting against the planned sack of about 4000 of their members.

While the protest was going on in the city center, hundreds of school children were said to have been mobilised at Mararaban Rido where they blocked Kachia road, leaving commuters plying the Kaduna – Kachia road stranded for a long period.

However, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Aminu Abdullahi Shagali confirmed the destruction of some assembly properties by the protesting workers.

The Speaker in his official twitter handle, #Rt. Hon Speaker KADAssembly twitted some photographs and videos of the vandalized properties.

One of the Speaker’s tweets read that, “The NUT protesters are destroying properties of the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

“The gate of the Kaduna State House of Assembly was destroyed by the protesters against the sack of unqualified primary school teachers”, the Speaker said.

The Nation recall that the state chapter of NUT had on Monday issued a two weeks ultimatum to Governor Nasir El-Rufai to rescind his government’s decision to sack the 21,780 primary teachers who failed the competency test or face indefinite strike.

Primary school pupils had also been used in that past two days to protest that government’s decision.

Meanwhile, the state government had maintained its resolved to sack the 21,780 teachers who failed the competency test, while it has since commenced process to recruit 25,000 new teachers to replace those to be sacked.

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