Imo Teachers Demand Pension Arrears

The Chairman of Imo Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers
(NUT), Dr. Cletus Okeke, has called on the state government to clear the nine
months of pension arrears owed primary school teachers.

Okeke made the call in an address at the 2012 World
Teachers’ Day celebration in Owerri on Friday.

He said that primary school teachers who retired from 1994
till date were still owed pension, adding that the harmonisation of their
pensions was also pending.

“These retired colleagues of ours feel dejected and
unaccepted by the society they used their useful lives to serve.

“They are owed pension arrears of upwards of nine months and
worse still, their pensions are not harmonised as some of them earn as low as
N4,000 a month,” he said.

He called on Governor Rochas Okorocha to come to the rescue
of the teachers, and commended the governor for transforming the state schools
and for the construction of 305 model schools in the local government councils.

He also lauded the governor for the payment of outfit
allowance to teachers in the state and the approval for the disbursement of
N200,000 each to primary and secondary schools and the provision of school
uniforms to the children.

The NUT boss, however, requested for the allocation of land
to be developed as a teachers’ village to reduce the accommodation difficulties
faced by the teachers.

Other demands included the involvement of the union in
decisions on issues affecting education and teachers, recruitment of additional
2,000 teachers in key subject areas and the appointment of teachers into
positions of trust and responsibility.

Responding, Okorocha commended the teachers for the
successful celebration of the World Teachers’ Day and re-iterated his
determination to lift the standard of education in the state.

The governor was represented by the state’s Commissioner for
Education, Prof. Adaobi Obasi.