Strike: Ekiti offers 15% allowance, appeals to teachers

[Mirror]

Ekiti State government, at the weekend, appealed to the striking public primary and secondary schools' teachers in the state to accept the 15 per cent Teachers' Peculiar Allowance, TPA, being offered them and shelve their twoweek old strike.

The state government, which said it could not afford the 27.5 per cent being demanded by the teachers in view of its lean purse, assured that it would add the remaining 12.5 per cent to the 15 per cent it could afford now when the economy of the state improves.

Information Commissioner, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, spoke at a press conference he jointly addressed with his Education counterpart, Mr. Kehinde Ojo and Labour and Productivity Commissioner, Mr. Oluwole Ariyo, at the weekend, following the collapse of talks between the state government and the national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT.

The Micheal Alogba Olukoya- led NUT national leadership and the state government could not agree as the body rejected the 15 per cent being offered by the state government.

Ekundayo, while appealing to teachers in the state, said the administration "has done and is still doing a lot towards ensuring that education takes its pride of place, through the provision of incentives to teachers, including capacity building, provision of teaching materials and appointment of teachers as tutor-generals, among others."

He said: "To pay the 27 per cent allowance, the state wage bill will increase by N155.5 million monthly and N1.87 billion annually. Conversely, the 15 per cent being offered by the state will also increase the wage bill by N70 million monthly which translates to N848.37 million annually.

"The government therefore appeals to the teachers to accept the 15 per cent allowance in the spirit of patriotism, knowing that other neighbouring states are also paying the percentage of the allowance they can afford.

The NUT in the state, a fortnight ago, joined their counterparts in some states to embark on strike to press home their demand for 27.5 per cent allowance.

The Education Commissioner, Ojo, said: "The Governor Kayode Fayemi administration is teachers' friendly. It is this administration that restored the scrapped car and housing loans that was stopped by the immediate past administration and also went ahead and appointed teachers into key offices including me, the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu and others.

"So, I expect the teachers to have confidence in the government's promise to pay the remaining allowance when the economy improves."

National Mirror