The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Benue State has threatened to embark on strike following their mass demotion by the state government.
The State Chairman of NUT, Levi Terna Akuma issued this threat in a statement in which he said the demotion should be reversed, failure teachers would take to industrial action.
Apart, Akume on behalf of the teachers’ union asked the state government to restore promotions and all the arrears of consolidated enhanced allowances removed from their May and June 2023 salaries, among other demands.
The teachers had in a communique earlier issued after the union’s emergency State Executive Council meeting in Makurdi also signed by the acting secretary, Jeremiah Ochonu, made all the demands.
The union contended the delay in the release of the circular on tenure elongation of primary school teachers (40 years of service and 65 years of chronological age) as spelt in the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria, Act 2022 through a circular letter which was domesticated, assented and gazetted by the Benue State Government among others.
It also faulted the removal of alleged 2,500 ghost workers from payroll and urged the state government to release the names of all those removed from the payment vouchers of May and June 2023 for clarity.
