Date: 2019-10-31

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has praised the Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for selecting two classroom teachers as commissioner nominees.

The teachers, who are both women, are Deborah Bosede Aremu of ECWA Secondary School, Omu-Aran (Irepodun local government area) and Mrs. Ahmad Bisola of Sheikh Abdulsalam Junior Secondary School, Ilorin (Ilorin West local government area.)

The union described the governor's action as unprecedented in the history of the state, adding that the highest a teacher had ever attained was that of a permanent secretary.

Speaking on the development, the Kwara State NUT Chair Comrade Saliu Toyin said: "The governor has done a thing that has never happened in the history of the state - picking serving teachers for the time to be commissioner nominee. The highest that happened in the past was principal being made permanent secretary.

"For the governor to have nominated teachers for commissionership shows that he recognises the worth of teachers, because we taught all of them. So if a governor should come and recognises us it is a good thing.

The NUT also urged the government to accord teachers in the state's Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) equal treatment with their counterparts in the civil service.

He lamented that that promotion arrears of both SUBEB and TESCOM teachers between 2015 and 2017 was about N37.3 million.

He said: "However, as good as it is, for this set of teachers to perform wonderfully well, the governor should try as a matter of urgency, to raise the welfare of teachers to level of other civil servants in the state. The teachers under the state government- Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) - have been owed about five months' promotion. No other civil servant is badly treated.

"Also teachers under Kwara SUBEB are drawing their salaries from the local government account. Their own promotion too is at par with local government employees.

"What we are saying in essence is that before the minimum wage comes in Governor Abdulrazaq should try to allow teachers to be on the same level with other core civil servants. So picking teachers is a welcome development and we promise that we are not going to let the government down. We hope our especially the teachers among them will perform. We have done it before and we are going to do it this time around."