The executive Governor of Abia state, Dr Alex Otti has stated that his administration is putting modalities in place for the commencement of payment of the new minimum wage by the end of the month.
He made this announcement during the 2024 World teachers day celebration with the theme ” Valuing Teacher’s Voices: Towards a new Social Contract for Education”.
Otti revealed that the new minimum wage will be implemented alongside the #15000 wage award already paid to civil servants in the state.
He acknowledged the important roles played by teachers in shaping the society and for that reason his administration has introduced new incentives to boost their morale by increasing the retirement age of teachers to 65 years and 40 years in service.
He further said that his administration has banished all forms of discriminatory practices in payment of salaries and promised that regular payment of salaries will be highly prioritized by his government.
Our administration understands the importance of education which explains why we prioritise it as one of the major pillars of our governance objectives.
“As the Chairman of NUT in the State said, we had since increased the retirement age of teachers in the State to 65 years or 40 years of service subject to health and willingness of individuals to remain in the field”.
“We have effectively banished all forms of discrimination in the payment of workers salaries and allowances” Governor Otti declared.
“Today, teachers in primary and secondary schools across the State get their salaries at the same time their counterparts in the civil service are paid.” Gov. Otti boasted.
As part of plans to make teaching more attractive, the Governor said his administration has retrained about two thousand teachers in the primary school while teachers in the secondary school will commence their retraining by November this year.
He also revealed that before the end of this year 100 newly retrofitted Public Schools will be ready for use across the state, adding that he has directed the office of the Homeland Security to provide adequate security to public schools in the state for the safety of teachers, students and facilities already in place.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Occasion and Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi while congratulating Abia Teachers on this year’s event said that the State Government sees teachers as friends, role models, mentors, builders and character moulder which informed the extensive ongoing capacity building of teachers and massive infrastructural development across Public Schools for effective and efficient performance.
During his speech, the state Chairman Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Madu Chukwujekwu said that the theme of this year’s event “Valuing Teachers’ Voices: Towards a New Social Contract For Education” underscores the critical role teachers play in the future of education, adding that government needs to empower teachers to take ownership of their profession, to share their expertise, and to drive innovation in education.
Comrade Chukwujekwu listed some achievements made in education sector by the present administration to include approval and full implementation of 65 years of age and 40 years of service through harmonized teachers retirement Act 2022, regular and prompt payment of monthly salaries to Teachers and all civil servants in the state among others, calling for the immediate recruitment of teachers to fill in vacancies in various Public Schools.
He also praised Governor Otti for the training of teachers in capacity building especially making teachers ICT compliant and the peaceful conduct of the promotion exercises for teachers by various education boards in the State as well as the resuscitation of the scholarship programme where over 5000 Students recently benefitted.
