The Nigerian Union of Teachers in Rivers State has called on the state government to takeover the responsibility of paying salaries of primary school teachers from the Local Government councils
Members of the union staged a peaceful protest in Port Harcourt to drive home the demand.
TVC News Uche Okoro reports the first point of call for members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT in Rivers State was the state house of assembly complex where they went to register their demands with legislators.
While teachers in Government owned primary schools are throwing their weights behind the demand for local government autonomy, they say payment of their salaries should be extracted from the powers of these councils.
They explained that since the year 1990 when primary school administration came under the control of Local Government Areas, the education system has suffered from poor funding and total neglect.
But unfortunately, the teachers were neither received nor addressed by any member of staff of the state legislature.
Undeterred by the development the NUT members proceeded to the Rivers State Government House but there was still no government official on ground.
The NUT Chairman also pointed out that under the current structure, primary school teachers are being owed many months of salaries.
The Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT is also proposing an upward review of allocation to states from the federation account so as to guarantee uninterrupted primary education in the country.
