Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State yesterday tasked teachers in the state to apply discipline, wisdom and hardwork in discharging their duties. 
The governor, who spoke at the Abakaliki Township Stadium venue of this year’s Teachers Day celebration in the state, described them as “very important” in child upbringing and nation building.

Umahi noted that he was very fortunate to have one of his teachers, Mrs. Franca Egwu, the current secretary of the state’s Secondary Education Board present at the event, just as he stressed that he got plenty of cane from her.

“I am fortunate to have one of my teachers still alive; that is Mrs. Franca Egwu. She was very hard when it came to discipline; she was loved by our parents then because of how she disciplined us whenever we did something wrong. I got plenty of strokes of the cane from her,” Umahi said.
“But today, I am very happy. By the special grace of God, I was able to measure up in the strata of life I found myself,” he added.
 
Umahi said there should be no reason for salary discrepancies in the state civil and public service, stressing that teachers play very important roles in child upbringing and nation building. He, therefore, promised  to tackle their problems.
 
The governor consequently set-up a committee to investigate non-payment of September 2011 teachers salaries and directed the committee to report back to him within 10 days.
 
Earlier in his speech, the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Joseph Nweke, said that teachers in the state had condemned alleged discrepancies and irregularities that characterized payment of their salaries.
 
According to him, they said the discrepancies were an ill wind undermining government efforts in actualising its policies.
 
While calling on the state government to urgently address the matter, he noted that there were disparities in salaries paid to teachers in the months of February, May and June this year, and which he described as worrisome.
 
Nweke also condemned the non-implementation of the 27.5 per cent Teachers Enhancement Allowance (TEA) by the state government and the non-payment of September 2011 salaries owed Secondary School teachers.