Brave Dickson
The Civil Society Organisation in Rivers State has written to Governor Nyesom Wike to pay the staff school teachers of the state-owned tertiary institutions.
This was contained in an open letter made available to our correspondent, dated 16th March 2023, and signed by the state CSO chairman, Ene-faa Georgewill.
The letter said the Wike-led administration has not paid the affected teachers their salaries for the past seven years.
It said that even when the affected teachers dragged the state government to the National Industrial Court and won the state government both at the court of first instance and at the appellate court division, the state government still refused to pay the teachers.
The letter read in parts, “Your Excellency, we recall that for a long time now that the Rivers State Civil Society Organization has championed the advocacy both within Rivers State and Nationally for the State Government to offset and payoff the salary arrears of Teachers of Staff Schools of the Rivers State owned Tertiary Institutions.
“These teachers had their salaries stopped by the State Government shortly after the inauguration of your first tenure on May 29, 2015.
“Some of these teachers have put in over 25 to 30 years of their lives to the service of this State.
“Most worrisome is the fact that aside from these teachers, every other category of staff in the school is still being paid by the Rivers State Government.
“For the purpose of clarity Your Excellency, these dying teachers neither collect school fees nor fix price of the School fees. Those who collect the fees from the students, are still being paid by the Rivers State Government till date.
“These teachers are dying daily and some are being evicted from their rented apartments by their Landlords. In some cases, both parents are teaching in same school and their children are sent out of their schools because they can’t afford their fees. Ninety percent of them are Rivers people.
“As law-abiding citizens, they took their matter to the industrial court and won the Rivers State Government. Surprisingly, the Rivers State Government appealed the matter to the Court of Appeal on the same day the Industrial Court entered judgment in favour of these indigent teachers.
“It is on record that on the 30th day of October 2020, the court of appeal struck out the appeal filed by your government on this matter for lack of merit.
“It is surprising that despite all the court judgments, your government has refused to pay the teachers their salary or obey any of the court orders emanating from the litigations for two whole years.
“Though many of the affected teachers have died and many of their dependents had dropped out of school and others with a bleak future. But Sir, it’s better late than never. The good story of their payment and the relief it will bring to their lives will be a good reference point, and credit to your political career.”
