The nation's educational sector may finally collapse if the Nigerian Union of Teachers makes good its threat and shuts down secondary and primary schools in the country over the non-implementation of the 27.5 per cent Teachers Salary Scale (TSS). The planned strike is scheduled to commence on September 1.

The Federal Government and state governors had agreed in August last year with NUT to implement the new TSS.

This development is coming on the heels of the stand-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities over the implementation of agreement, which has crippled the university system for almost two months.

The NUT said yesterday in Abuja that 19 state governors were yet to implement the TSS.

Speaking at a meeting in Abuja, including the management of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and the representatives of four state governors yesterday, the NUT president, Chief Onem Nelson, said that the union was disappointed by the way and manner 19 state governors refused to honour the agreement, which was reached on August 6, 2008

"We have already stated clearly that if by the end of August 2009 the agreement is not implemented, both the primary and the secondary schools of the 19 states would remain closed until the state governors honour the agreement", Nelson stated.

Speaking further, the president of the NUT disclosed that the representatives of the meeting didn’t have the power and authority to suspend their planned action, adding that the meeting did not give them a concrete issue that would prevent the union from proceeding on the proposed strike.

He, however, said that the 19 governors were not ready to pay. "The Kogi State government said they cannot pay some teachers they termed as unqualified. What would be the fate of the teachers they termed as unqualified? Was it not the state government that employed them in the service? As far as we are concerned, the agreement was reached without exception of certain individuals.

"We reject your sympathy to the teachers because it is not genuine. The government should not play politics with the teachers. The government should not play politics with the future of our children. If the honourable minister said we should adjourn the meeting, we have no objection, but our plans remain unchanged", Nelson stated.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokumbo Kayode, the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, and his state counterpart, Hajiya Aishatu Dukku, pleaded that the union should suspend the strike.

No date has been fix for further negotiation as NUT said the strike would commence on September 1.

Meanwhile, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, in their effort to resolve the crisis between the Federal Government and the three unions in the university system - Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Non-academic Staff Union of Universities and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities - who have been on indefinite strike for over two months, would be meeting with the leadership of the union in Abuja today.

The vice-chancellors arrived Abuja for their meeting yesterday and would be having an emergency meeting with the leadership of the unions in the university today and tomorrow.

However, President of SSANU, Comrade Promise Adewusi, who spoke with journalists in Abuja yesterday on the outcome of the union's NEC meeting, held over the weekend, described the vice-chancellors as "vampires", who are the greatest beneficiaries of the various struggles by unions in the university system, despite their efforts on each occasion to thwart the unions’ collective efforts at ensuring adequate funding of the varsities and good university system.

Adewusi, who confirmed the meeting while speaking with journalists, said the vice-chancellors have become economic and political vampires and that the longer the crisis goes, the more they would be feathering their political nest, adding, "We refused to be used as cannon fodder in this selfish disposition."

He regretted that despite being the beneficiaries of previous crises in the university system, the vice-chancellors were now being used to forcefully break the strike, even when they were aware that the workers were fighting a just cause.

The SSANU President said: "It is also regrettable that some vice-chancellors are now being used to forcefully break this strike even in a democratic dispensation. These vice-chancellors are the biggest beneficiaries of all struggles that have gone on in the universities. An average vice-chancellor now earns over N22 million annually, he earns in excess of N22 million as a so-called political office holder.

"Most of them are politicians who deserve to be flushed out of the system because they are the problems of the system, along with their fellow vampires from the private sector. They have now come to bring their slave-master mentality into the public governance and in an effort to continue to enslave Nigerians. That is why you see the strike, instead of abating, is moving on even stronger.

"These people have become vampires feeding on the proceeds of this crisis. Most vice-chancellors, apart from earning salary that are in excess of N22 million, have unfettered access to the internally generated revenue generated by universities, which they hardly account for."

He pointed out that the vice-chancellors were not bothered if the crisis persisted because their children were not attending Nigerian universities but were all abroad, adding, "They have unlimited access to funds, even when they stop our salaries, they would continue to enjoy because they don't even need the salary. And these vice-chancellors have the effrontery to try to break a strike which is for a genuine cause, which themselves are direct beneficiaries."

He, however, said that SSANU would be well represented at the meeting with the vice-chancellors because they were open to dialogue and wanted the crisis resolved as soon as possible so that the students could go back to school.

Leadership Newspaper