Kaduna Teachers’ Sack: NUT Threatens Nationwide Strike

Sequel to the sack of 2,357teachers in Kaduna State by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers(NUT) has threatened a nationwide industrial action to press home the reversal of the sack.
The National Executive Council (NEC) of the union issued the threat at a news conference in Abuja, on Wednesday, in solidarity with teachers in Kaduna State.
It alleged that the whole concept of competency test which the Kaduna State Government relied on to sack 2,357 teachers in the state last week was ”designed to achieve its inglorious aim of casualisation of the teaching profession in Kaduna State”.
The Tide reports that the Kaduna State Government, last weekend, announced the sack of 2,357 teachers including the National President of NUT, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, for an alleged competency test failure.
NUT Deputy President, Kelvin Nwankwo, who led members of the NEC to the press conference, declared the action of the Kaduna State Government as null and void.
While declaring that its president did not fail competency test as alleged by the Kaduna State Government, the union insisted that the Kaduna State Government must reverse its decision or face nationwide strike.
“You know our members are well dedicated people. This is the only union that does not have one illiterate among us. Remember that because of the competency test issue, we went to court, we are law-abiding citizens and we felt that is the only way we can resolve this. But if it becomes necessary that we must go on strike, it would be a nationwide strike”, he said.
The union alleged that Governor El-Rufai’s action was aimed at intimidating the NUT President, embarrassing the teachers in the country, and a strategy not to pay workers their salaries.
NUT advised the governor to rather embark on continuous training programme for teachers, which according to it, would “improve knowledge and service delivery by teachers in public schools in Kaduna State as obtained in other professions such as Nursing, Medicine and Law”.
The union said, “the very concept of competency test is an aberration and absurd having regards to the fact that the teachers in Kaduna State have prior to their recruitment in the state public service, attended schools and institutions statutorily saddled with the responsibility of teacher education and these institutions have certified them to be competent, fit and proper to be teachers.
“In addition, the same Kaduna State Government had subjected the teachers to scrutiny and test to ensure their suitability or otherwise for employment as teachers before they were recruited by it.
“It is in the context of the above that the whole concept of a competency test which is only peculiar to Kaduna State is akin to a cocktail of absurdities and leaves a sour taste in the mouth, thereby validating the position of NUT that the intention of the Kaduna State Government on this issue is everything but altruistic”.
According to the NUT Deputy President, “Kaduna State is only second most indebted state in Nigeria and the state government is on a free roller coaster move to satisfy the conditionalities handed down to it by its creditors, which normally includes downsizing of the public service without even the remotest regards to our peculiar circumstances”.