The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has urged state governments owing teachers'salaries to pay immediately, to ensure industrial peace.

The union made the call in a statement signed by Mr Obong I.J. Obong, the NUT General Secretary, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja. It urged such state governments to be alive to their responsibilities and stop toying with the future of the Nigerian child.

"We call on these state governments to be alive to their responsibilities and not continue to toy with the future of our children for their political expediency. "These governments must allow reason and morality to prevail as we demand for urgent and practicable steps to address all issues at stake, to avoid a prolonged strike and dislocation in the school calendar.

"Government at all levels must be reminded that, in this trying period of our national economic and social challenges, education should provide a lead way as an agent of moral, economic and social change. "Regrettably, several state governments in our country have caused schools to remain closed one month after resumption."

It urged Kwara State Government to meet the demands of the teachers before the three-week ultimatum given to them by teachers expires. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the Kwara State teachers suspended their lengthy strike on Feb. 8, 2016.

They, however, gave the government a three-week ultimatum within which to resolve all their grievances or risk another prolonged strike. NAN also gathered that Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Edo, Ekiti, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Taraba states are owing more than two months' salary.

Bauchi, Delta, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, Plateau and Yobe are said to be owing January 2016 salary. The statement advised government must desist from using teachers' recruitment as means compensation to party loyalists.

On the recruitment of 500,000 teachers, it urged the Federal Government to recruit only qualified graduates and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) holders.

According to the statement, "employing qualified teachers is the only way government can stop indicting itself when the unqualified people employed cannot deliver."(NAN)