Kebbi Has Cleared All Salary, Pension Arrears, Governor Says

Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, has said his administration does not owe teachers, workers or pensioners any salary arrears, pensions or gratuities.

Idris made the statement on Tuesday while speaking at the ongoing 59th (8th Quadrennial) National Conference of Delegates of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) at the International Conference Centre in Enugu.

The governor said his administration had maintained up-to-date payments of salaries, pensions, gratuities and death benefits for workers across the state, local government areas and local government education authorities.

“We don’t owe salaries, we don’t owe pensions, and we don’t owe gratuity,” Idris said, attributing the policy to his administration’s commitment to leadership by example.

He also disclosed that more than 5,000 professional workers, including teachers, medical personnel and lawyers, had been absorbed into the permanent civil service to eliminate casual employment.

According to him, about 6,144 civil servants, including teachers and health workers, had also been recruited to strengthen the state’s workforce.

Idris described primary education as the foundation of societal development and said his administration had remained committed to improving the welfare and status of teachers.

He said the state had increased the years of service for teachers from 35 to 40 years, while similar measures had been introduced for doctors.

The governor added that more than 2,000 schools had been constructed, renovated or furnished as part of efforts to improve education infrastructure and reduce the number of out-of-school children.

“We want to ensure our children remain in school. We no longer want out-of-school children in our communities and streets,” he said.

Meanwhile, NUT National President, Audu Amba, criticised the Federal Government’s plan to concession King’s College, Lagos, to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association through a public-private partnership.

Amba described the proposed concession as a departure from the principle of public education and called for its immediate suspension and reversal.

He also urged the government to improve funding for education and implement welfare measures for teachers, including a special salary structure, bursary awards for education students, a special pension scheme, career development policies and affordable housing.

The NUT conference, themed “Deployment of Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Education Will Erode the Place of Teachers in the Classroom: Myth or Reality?”, is scheduled to end on September 30.