Uncertainty now pervades staff primary schools in universities across the country as the Federal Government moves to stop universities from offsetting personnel costs, FOLASHADE ADEBAYO and SUCCESS NWOGU write
A school teacher, Mrs. Olanrewaju Adeoye, has earned a living at the Staff School of the University of Lagos for 28 years. Now, her source of livelihood is being threatened.
Indeed, Adeoye and other teachers working in 24 Staff primary schools across the country may soon find themselves in the job market if the Federal Government makes good its threat to stop paying the salaries of workers in staff primary schools of federal universities.
The Federal Ministry of Education recently issued a circular with an attached report from the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, recommending that “Agencies which have been funding the personnel costs of staff primary schools in the federal budget should be advised to stop that practice with immediate effect. A service-wide circular should be issued by the commission directing federal public establishments that have staff schools not to fund their personnel budget from the treasury.’’
Expectedly, the development has been causing ripples among teachers and parents who will be affected. Leading the battle, however, is the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the umbrella body for all university workers, which has vowed to resist the actualisation of the directive.
Uneasy calm pervaded the premises of the University of Lagos Staff Primary School when one of our correspondents visited there on Wednesday. In an interview, Adeoye lamented what would become of her and the pupils.
“What it means is that we (teachers) will be out of job and the pupils sent away. One will expect that this kind of directive will never see the light of the day, but it has happened and we are all apprehensive. We are more than 80 teachers because there is still another branch at Idi-Araba. Where do we go from here? We all have children and other dependents,’’ she said.
Another teacher who has been with the school since 1987, Mr. Samuel Osemeuno, said that rather than closing the school, parents should be told to pay a token to take the burden off the Federal Government that ultimately funds federal universities.
“I agree that parents should pay something. What obtains right now is that the children of the staff of the school pay N5,000 development fee in a year while the children of non-staff who come from outside pay N25,000 as school fees. Allowing the parents to contribute is a better option because many teachers will lose their jobs if the universities stop paying our salaries,’’ he said.
Findings by one of our correspondents have, however, shown that Osemeuno may be on his own as SSANU has threatened a showdown with the government on the issue.
In a nationwide protest that started on Monday, the union kicked against what it described as an attempt to privatise the schools. Scores of SSANU members, on Thursday, gathered at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State in a protest, urging the government to rescind the decision to avoid forcing them into embarking on a strike.
Vice-President, SSANU, Western Zone, Mr.. Alfred Jimoh, said the protesters did not target the authorities of UNILORIN, but they were against a circular currently sent to universities.
“The content of that circular is highly offensive in the sense that it is calling our members in our various staff schools of the universities, who were duly employed by the councils of their various universities, ghost workers.
“This, to us, as a union, is highly offensive. Apart from the fact these people have the appointment letters of their councils, which have not been withdrawn, the union in 2009 had an agreement with the Federal Government.
“In that agreement, the issue of staff schools came up and it was agreed by the government that the recurrent and capital expenditure of the institutions should be borne by the various universities and by extension, the government,” Jimoh said.
According to him, the directive signed by Mr. Ebenezer Fayemi, a deputy director in the ministry, was vindictive and discriminatory.
The unionist, who insisted that staff schools were an integral part of the university system, wondered why similar schools affiliated to other government institutions, such as the Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy, are funded from the public treasury were not affected.
“Evidence abounds that the Ministry of Defense still funds the capital and recurrent costs of over 100 Army Children Schools, Command Children Schools, Navy Primary and Secondary Schools, Air force Primary and Secondary Schools, while the Ministry of Police Affairs still funds its Police Children Schools, and Police Secondary Schools.
“The Ministry of Education is still funding all the 102 Unity Schools across the country, through the same treasury. One therefore wonders the basis for the attention on the 24 staff schools whose total annual budget is less than N2bn, in the face of over N100bn spent on the Army and Police Staff Schools,’’ he said.
However, beyond allegations of bias and discrimination, the question of whether workers in the affected schools are employees of the education ministry and thus, should be paid from the treasury has also come to light.
The Press Director, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipede, maintained that the affected universities could not continue to defray personnel costs of the staff schools. In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday, Lipede said the decision to foist the personnel costs on their host universities and polytechnics was wrong.
“What you need to ask is whether the workers in the staff schools belonging to the Nigerian Army and the Police are first and foremost the staff of the Ministry of Defence and whether the workers in these staff schools are part of the Ministry of Education — and whether they report to us.
“The staff schools are only situated within government institutions, but their managements do not report to the ministry. In addition to this, they are revenue-generating schools. Universities cannot collect allocations from government in the name of schools that are not accountable to it,’’ he said.
Reminded that the same institutions had been footing the bills of the staff schools from inception, Lipede said, “If something has been wrong from the beginning, the way to rectify is should be what we should look for.’’
That position has, however, been countered by the Lagos State Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Mr. Segun Raheem. According to him, it is not out of place if the Federal Ministry of Education did not give employment to those teachers.
He said, “I think the universities did because they generate income and only get subventions from the ministry. In any case, it is unfortunate that anybody will ask teachers to go.
“Where do they want those children to go? Putting children of the workers in a university in a school within the premises is a motivational actor. Some of these universities are situated within communities where there are no standard schools. We identify with SSANU and we implore the Federal Government to have a rethink on this matter.’’
Insisting that SSANU members were duly employed by the university, Jimoh added that the union would stop at nothing to force the government to reverse its decision.
“We are not ghost workers. Our appointment letters were signed by the Registrar of this university and that is why our names are on the budget of the university. The same appointment of council that the Vice-Chancellor has is what we have. At what point did we become ghost workers?
“We have written a series of letters. We have published an advertorial to President Muhammadu Buhari because we know they intend to start the implementation either this June or July. We would have gone on strike earlier, but we held back due to political insinuations. But we are preparing because this development is unacceptable to us,’’ he said.
Similarly, the SSANU UNILAG Chairman, Mr. Adekola Adetomiwa, called on the Federal Government not to renege on the 2009 Agreement it had with the union. Adetomiwa, who insisted that the National Universities Commission and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission were privy to the said agreement, noted that the school had produced professionals “ who have justified whatever resources spent on them by the government and are giving back to the Nigerian nation in many ways.’’
A school teacher, Mrs. Olanrewaju Adeoye, has earned a living at the Staff School of the University of Lagos for 28 years. Now, her source of livelihood is being threatened.
Indeed, Adeoye and other teachers working in 24 Staff primary schools across the country may soon find themselves in the job market if the Federal Government makes good its threat to stop paying the salaries of workers in staff primary schools of federal universities.
The Federal Ministry of Education recently issued a circular with an attached report from the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, recommending that “Agencies which have been funding the personnel costs of staff primary schools in the federal budget should be advised to stop that practice with immediate effect. A service-wide circular should be issued by the commission directing federal public establishments that have staff schools not to fund their personnel budget from the treasury.’’
Expectedly, the development has been causing ripples among teachers and parents who will be affected. Leading the battle, however, is the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the umbrella body for all university workers, which has vowed to resist the actualisation of the directive.
Uneasy calm pervaded the premises of the University of Lagos Staff Primary School when one of our correspondents visited there on Wednesday. In an interview, Adeoye lamented what would become of her and the pupils.
“What it means is that we (teachers) will be out of job and the pupils sent away. One will expect that this kind of directive will never see the light of the day, but it has happened and we are all apprehensive. We are more than 80 teachers because there is still another branch at Idi-Araba. Where do we go from here? We all have children and other dependents,’’ she said.
Another teacher who has been with the school since 1987, Mr. Samuel Osemeuno, said that rather than closing the school, parents should be told to pay a token to take the burden off the Federal Government that ultimately funds federal universities.
“I agree that parents should pay something. What obtains right now is that the children of the staff of the school pay N5,000 development fee in a year while the children of non-staff who come from outside pay N25,000 as school fees. Allowing the parents to contribute is a better option because many teachers will lose their jobs if the universities stop paying our salaries,’’ he said.
Findings by one of our correspondents have, however, shown that Osemeuno may be on his own as SSANU has threatened a showdown with the government on the issue.
In a nationwide protest that started on Monday, the union kicked against what it described as an attempt to privatise the schools. Scores of SSANU members, on Thursday, gathered at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State in a protest, urging the government to rescind the decision to avoid forcing them into embarking on a strike.
Vice-President, SSANU, Western Zone, Mr.. Alfred Jimoh, said the protesters did not target the authorities of UNILORIN, but they were against a circular currently sent to universities.
“The content of that circular is highly offensive in the sense that it is calling our members in our various staff schools of the universities, who were duly employed by the councils of their various universities, ghost workers.
“This, to us, as a union, is highly offensive. Apart from the fact these people have the appointment letters of their councils, which have not been withdrawn, the union in 2009 had an agreement with the Federal Government.
“In that agreement, the issue of staff schools came up and it was agreed by the government that the recurrent and capital expenditure of the institutions should be borne by the various universities and by extension, the government,” Jimoh said.
According to him, the directive signed by Mr. Ebenezer Fayemi, a deputy director in the ministry, was vindictive and discriminatory.
The unionist, who insisted that staff schools were an integral part of the university system, wondered why similar schools affiliated to other government institutions, such as the Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy, are funded from the public treasury were not affected.
“Evidence abounds that the Ministry of Defense still funds the capital and recurrent costs of over 100 Army Children Schools, Command Children Schools, Navy Primary and Secondary Schools, Air force Primary and Secondary Schools, while the Ministry of Police Affairs still funds its Police Children Schools, and Police Secondary Schools.
“The Ministry of Education is still funding all the 102 Unity Schools across the country, through the same treasury. One therefore wonders the basis for the attention on the 24 staff schools whose total annual budget is less than N2bn, in the face of over N100bn spent on the Army and Police Staff Schools,’’ he said.
However, beyond allegations of bias and discrimination, the question of whether workers in the affected schools are employees of the education ministry and thus, should be paid from the treasury has also come to light.
The Press Director, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipede, maintained that the affected universities could not continue to defray personnel costs of the staff schools. In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday, Lipede said the decision to foist the personnel costs on their host universities and polytechnics was wrong.
“What you need to ask is whether the workers in the staff schools belonging to the Nigerian Army and the Police are first and foremost the staff of the Ministry of Defence and whether the workers in these staff schools are part of the Ministry of Education — and whether they report to us.
“The staff schools are only situated within government institutions, but their managements do not report to the ministry. In addition to this, they are revenue-generating schools. Universities cannot collect allocations from government in the name of schools that are not accountable to it,’’ he said.
Reminded that the same institutions had been footing the bills of the staff schools from inception, Lipede said, “If something has been wrong from the beginning, the way to rectify is should be what we should look for.’’
That position has, however, been countered by the Lagos State Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Mr. Segun Raheem. According to him, it is not out of place if the Federal Ministry of Education did not give employment to those teachers.
He said, “I think the universities did because they generate income and only get subventions from the ministry. In any case, it is unfortunate that anybody will ask teachers to go.
“Where do they want those children to go? Putting children of the workers in a university in a school within the premises is a motivational actor. Some of these universities are situated within communities where there are no standard schools. We identify with SSANU and we implore the Federal Government to have a rethink on this matter.’’
Insisting that SSANU members were duly employed by the university, Jimoh added that the union would stop at nothing to force the government to reverse its decision.
“We are not ghost workers. Our appointment letters were signed by the Registrar of this university and that is why our names are on the budget of the university. The same appointment of council that the Vice-Chancellor has is what we have. At what point did we become ghost workers?
“We have written a series of letters. We have published an advertorial to President Muhammadu Buhari because we know they intend to start the implementation either this June or July. We would have gone on strike earlier, but we held back due to political insinuations. But we are preparing because this development is unacceptable to us,’’ he said.
Similarly, the SSANU UNILAG Chairman, Mr. Adekola Adetomiwa, called on the Federal Government not to renege on the 2009 Agreement it had with the union. Adetomiwa, who insisted that the National Universities Commission and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission were privy to the said agreement, noted that the school had produced professionals “ who have justified whatever resources spent on them by the government and are giving back to the Nigerian nation in many ways.’’
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