NUT asks Niger state government to pay minimum wages of teachers

The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has asked the Niger State government to pay the new minimum wage and its consequential adjustment to all categories of teachers, according to a news report by 'This Day'.

NUT said that when the government was paying the wages of all workers in February, several 'qualified teachers' were omitted from the salary payment vouchers resulting in an outburst by the teachers.

The NUT has compiled the list of teachers who were not given the benefit of the 18 percent increment for senior civil servants and forwarded the same to the federal government to take necessary action.

In a state executive committee meeting held in Minna, the government has observed that despite teachers being the least salary earners in the state, the 18 percent adjustment was not implemented for them.

The meeting noted that the government will implement a rule to set the minimum wage at N30,000 as mentioned in the signed agreement between organized labor and the state government.

The notice released at the end of the council meeting declared that the new wage should be paid along with the salary for the month of March.

According to the notice jointly signed by the state chairman of the union, Ibrahim Garba and the Principal Assistant Secretary-General, Garba Labaran warned that "if by the end of March teachers were not paid their entitlements the union will be forced to take alternative action."