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Funding
By Jacinta Nwachukwu/Uche Bibilari
Abuja, Sept. 25, 2017 (NAN) The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has again criticised the hand over of the funding and management of primary education to Local Government Councils (LGCs), saying it is an aberration.
Dr. Mike Ike-Ene, the Acting Secretary-General of the union, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
Ike-Ene described the arrangement as an aberration and would not be favourable to education in the country.
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“We have said it time without number; primary education is the foundation, the mother of all mothers; if you get primary education right, you are bound to get every other thing right.
“And it is like when you dig a foundation for a house and the foundation is faulty, of course, that house; no matter how you fortify it is bound to crack and if care is not taken, it will fall.
“ So we are still saying that handing over primary school management, especially payment of salaries of primary school teachers to anybody other than making it a first-line charge is an aberration and it will not help this country.
“So we are saying let them bring primary school out of anywhere it is and make it a first line charge; that is our summary; that is our option.’’
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Ike-Ene also said that it would be very difficult for LGAs to effectively fund primary education as majority of them had no permanent sources of revenue.
“Local government authorities also have other huge responsibilities and salaries to pay, not only teachers; their monthly allocation cannot sustain them,’’ he said.
According him, the union is making efforts to eliminate quacks from the teaching profession and ensure that only qualified and certified teachers are engaged.
He stated that with such development, local government authorities should be able to work out decent remuneration for the professionals.
“But beyond that, lack of motivation is hindering a lot of teachers from accepting teaching jobs in rural areas,’’ he added.
The NUT scribe appealed to the three ties of government to pay the outstanding salary arrears of teachers and also create incentives that would motivate them to carry out their duties more efficiently. (NAN)
JIN/UU/DOR/YEE
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Edited by Nyisom Dore/Emmanuel Yashim