NLC faults El-Rufai on 25,000 teachers

We won’t employ below that number, says governor

The Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s claim about recruiting 25, 000 teachers.The state chairman, Adamu Ango, spoke at the 40th anniversary of the union in Kaduna.Ango said a reliable source claimed that the state had only planned to recruit 10, 000 and not 25, 000 teachers as it declared.

The chairman also alleged that the state government deducted dues from the state workers’ salaries for eight months without remitting to the NLC.He said the El-Rufai’s administration had outlawed labour unions on January 21, 2018, in a memo by the government.

According to him, he ordered that no fund would be deduced from the workers salaries, but he had failed to remit eight-month dues that were deducted from workers’ salaries.He said: “As am speaking to you, most of the schools in our villages are without teachers, because 21,700 teachers had been sacked, while the planned 25, 000 teachers had not been employed.

Also, the former President of the NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar, who was the guest speaker at the event, described the situation in Kaduna as unfortunate.Responding, El-Rufai said the state government would not recruit below 25, 000 teachers.He spoke through his Commissioner for Education, Jaafaru Sani Ibrahim.

The governor pledged that due process of filtering and assessment would be followed before inviting any teacher to the classroom.According to the governor, there is nothing that the government is doing that is not geared towards recruiting 25, 000 quality teachers.He said: “What we said again was that at the end of the exercise, we may not necessarily get the 25, 000 that we are looking for.

“That is why the applications that SUBEB have been receiving would be used to call others for another round of interview. We will continue to do it until we get the required number that we want.”On the issue of non-remittance of union dues, he said: “You should consult the Head of Service or Commissioner of Finance. We are not aware of any deduction of the dues, since the education ministry is not responsible for such remittance.”