Date: 2016-01-05

*Says no money to pay workers' salaries All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara, yesterday, said the state is broke and appealed to the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT to suspend its plan to embark on industrial action over non-payment of salaries.

In a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, the party said the contending issue is not really about non-payment of teachers' salaries but non-availability of funds to pay salaries which required collective efforts to address rather than industrial action.

According to him, "As a party, we wish to state that we feel the concerns and share in the pains of primary school teachers in Kwara State. Quite unfortunately, this issue is chiefly caused by the dwindling allocation from the federation account.

"Therefore, in actual sense, it is not about non-payment of teachers’ salaries but non-availability of funds to pay salaries. It requires collective efforts to address rather than strike. If the resources are available today, the Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed-led Kwara State Government will pay all teachers like it has always done in the past 5 years."

The statement further stressed that, "Given the cordial relationship between Kwara State Government and the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT with mention to the fact that the union, not too long ago, acknowledged the outstanding performance of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed in the sector with its national merit award. We wish to say the record of the state government is clear and the will to pay teachers' salaries by the Kwara State Government is undoubtful.

"Since it is about non-availability of resources, the planned industrial action would be counterproductive and it lacks the capacity to solve the contending issues. "In the light of the above, we hereby appeal to leadership of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Kwara State to suspend its plan to embark on industrial action.

"Finally, we wish to assure the people of Kwara State and our dear teachers that the Kwara State Government is not helpless in this financial quagmire. That is why the government has embarked on aggressive revenue generation drive by repositioning the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service for more effectiveness in the discharge of its roles as the revenue generating agency of the government."