Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has approved the payment of N30,000 minimum wage to 5,439 teachers of the Local Education Authority (LEA) who passed competency test.
Zulum stated this when labour officials led by the NLC Chairman in Borno State, Comrade Yusuf Inuwa, visited him, during which the labour official thanked the Governor for his commitment to the welfare of workers and also called his attention to other areas that include payments of promotion benefits.
The 5,439 teachers at local government level were those who passed basic literacy and numeracy tests conducted by a committee which Zulum constituted in 2021.
The committee assessed 17,229 LEA teachers across Borno’s 27 local government areas from which 11,790, representing 69 per cent, of the entire LEA teachers were found unqualified.
Amongst them, 2,389 teachers had no academic qualification, not even secondary school certificates, while 3,815 of the teachers were found to be untrainable.
Governor Zulum had, after receiving the assessment committee’s report in February 2022, directed that payment of N30,000 minimum wage be given to the teachers who passed the test.
Zulum had on October 26, 2021 raised alarm that some primary school teachers were receiving scandalous salaries less than N10,000, but to change the situation, he needed to address the problems of ghost teachers at the LEA level, the same way it was done at the state level.
During the meeting on Wednesday with the NLC leaders, Zulum reaffirmed his compassionate position not to sack unqualified teachers.
The governor told the NLC that since the assessment committee had found that out of 11,790 unqualified teachers, there are 7,975 teachers, representing 46.3 per cent, who are trainable, the state would soon support a first batch of 1,000 to further their education through a special in-service facility.
He said the method would enable the teachers to go back to tertiary schools as full time students while getting their monthly salaries.
Zulum however said the 7,975 unqualified teachers would not be enlisted for minimum wage until they complete their education and are qualified to teach.
Inuwa appreciated Governor Zulum for his commitment to welfare of workers in the state.
He commended the governor on the payment of 2020 and 2021 leave grants to entitled workers, as well as constant payment of monthly salaries, pensions and significant progress made on gratuities.
The NLC however appealed to the state government on outstanding issues that include promotion arrears and arrears for re-verified local government staff and LEA teachers as well as minimum wage for local government and LEA staff.
