Non-payment of salaries: Teachers of Unity schools resort to ‘menial jobs’

However, almost a year now, most of these teachers have not been paid their salaries by government, not to talk about other entitlements, Daily Trust findings have revealed.Investigation revealed that it was only recently that a few of the teachers received their November and December salaries, while majority are yet to receive theirs.Some of the […]

However, almost a year now, most of these teachers have not been paid their salaries by government, not to talk about other entitlements, Daily Trust findings have revealed.
Investigation revealed that it was only recently that a few of the teachers received their November and December salaries, while majority are yet to receive theirs.
Some of the affected teachers, who craved for anonymity, told Daily Trust that because of the unfortunate development, most of them are now relying on menial jobs to sustain their families, while others are planning to quit the job for greener postures.
At the Federal Government Girls’ College (FGGC), Zaria, Daily Trust learnt that about 15 of the teachers, who were deployed to the school in May last year, have not started receiving their salaries.
One of them, who does not want his name in print, said, “I did my documentation in Abuja in February 2014 and resumed work same month, but up to now I am yet to get any salary. About 15 of us were deployed to FGGC, Zaria in May. Ideally, when a new staff is deployed, he/she is supposed to receive what we call 28 days settlement money, but none of us was paid that here. We have been living like that.
“Up to this moment that I am talking to you, only two of us have been captured, and they were paid only December salary. The previous months’ salaries were not paid to them, while the 13 of us are still working without pay. I don’t know how government will expect its employees to survive for about 11 months without salary,” he said.
He alleged that most of the new teachers have no option than to search around for menial jobs to sustain their families.
He said they were assigned “normal responsibilities” by the college authorities, but the management has not done anything to assist them despite being in full picture of their predicament.
“Over 1,000 of us were employed for the job nationwide. This was why our union decided to call for strike sometime last year. One of the reasons of the strike was non-payment of our salaries,” the source said.
Over 20 of the teachers have been deployed to Katsina State but have not been paid their salaries, one of them, who pleaded for anonymity, told our correspondent.
He said they are living unbearable life, adding that “we are just relying on the goodwill of our friends and relatives. We are facing difficulties as if we are not duly employed by government.”
One of the teachers at the FGGC, Dayi, disclosed that two weeks ago he received a credit alert for November and December salaries, saying no explanation was forthcoming on the outstanding salaries.
He lamented that “this is our sweat and therefore we should be paid accordingly. We sometimes rally round to support each other. Most of us wanted to quit along the way but we encouraged and assisted each other up to this period.
“The few fortunate ones among us are the married women who are really assisting us with transportation and little loans,” he added.
Daily Trust gathered that since their employment, government had failed to capture them in the Integrated Personnel Payment Information System, IPPIS.
An affected teacher in FGGC Daura, Katsina State, said very few of them have been captured having been raising complaints in September but only handful got their salaries in December last year.
Daily Trust also gathered that only recently, a circular came from the ministry directing the principals to pay the newly recruited staff 28 days’ allowance in lieu of hotel accommodation.
The circular, dated 3rd December, 2014 with reference ADF/ABJ/II, was signed by the Director Human Resource of the ministry, Dr. MB Umar.
To the astonishment of the teachers, the principals told them that there was no money for such expenditure. It was only at Bakori that the affected teachers were told that the school could only pay them N67,000 as transportation allowance which up till now it is yet to pay.
At the Federal Government College, Kabba in Kogi State, a teacher told Daily Trust that eight of them were deployed to the Unity School in Kabba.
“Life is becoming difficult for me and my family. I can’t even pay my children’s school fees. It is my wife that has been taking care of my family for close to a year now because of non-payment of my salary. I have not also been able to rent a house but am squatting with a friend at my duty post,” he also said.
“Some of us have to trek to school from our respective houses to teach. The difficulties we are facing are unbearable. We are appealing to the federal government to come to our rescue by settling our outstanding salaries,” he said.
Another affected teacher, who requested not to be named, said he shuttles between Sokoto and Kebbi states almost every day because he could not afford accommodation at his duty post in Kebbi due to nonpayment of his salary.
“I collected my temporary appointment letter December, 2013 and resumed work in January, 2014 but up till today that I am talking to you, I have not been paid any salary and neither has my biometric data been captured as a prerequisite for getting salary,” he lamented.
He said that he has been living by borrowing money which was no longer accessible because he was indebted to so many people.  “At the beginning of every term, I use to borrow like N40,000 to cover my transportation and feeding. But there is nowhere to borrow such money again because of my heavy indebtedness,” he said
He said some of his colleagues have stopped coming to work because they could not cope with the situation even as some were fully captured and would soon start getting salary.
He commended the principal of the school who, he said, had once given each of them N20,000 out of sympathy.
Despite working for over nine months without salary, the Principal of Federal Government College, Sokoto Alhaji Lawal Madaki Malikawa, has however described the unpaid teachers as “impatient”.
Lawal who looked upset when contacted on the matter said the teachers were impatient to have complained over government policy.
Malikawa said that he knew a teacher at the Federal Government College, Anka in Zamfara State who has not been paid for over one year, wondering why the ones attached to his school were complaining because they were not paid for just nine months even as they know that they would eventually get their salaries.
When contacted, Malam Sule Ya’u Sule, the media aid to the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, said the recruitment was done before they assumed power, noting that “when we assumed office we inherited backlog of unpaid salaries and by December last year we have settled all salary arrears.”
He said: “15 federal ministries including the Ministry of Education have encountered problems with the IPPIS system but all the problems were rectified as of December. But for these particular workers I don’t know what is exactly delaying the payment of their salaries.”
But a source from the ministry, who would not want his name mentioned, refuted the claim of non-payment of salaries to workers employed under the ministry.
He said from 2013 to date those that are employed, cleared and documented by Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) have been receiving their salaries as at when due.
He added that the only people that are not being paid are those who were not captured under the IPPIS or those who absconded from their places of employment and that those who are yet to be captured will start receiving their salaries as soon as they are captured.
Speaking on the employment, the source said they received a presidential waiver obtained over shortage of teachers in certain subjects in Unity Schools for employment of teachers and the recruitment was done by the Federal Civil Service Commission and forwarded to the ministry which verified from the commission the authenticity of the letter after which they were documented and deployed to various states of the federation.