Primary school pupils protest against El-Rufai’s sacking of teachers

Primary school pupils protesting against the sacking of teachers in Kaduna…yesterday

NUT gives two weeks ultimatum

Hundreds of pupils and students yesterday protested against the sacking of primary and secondary schools teachers in Kaduna.Besides, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) have issued a two weeks ultimatum to Governor Nasir El-Rufai to rescind government’s decision on the sack of about 21,780 primary teachers, who have been penciled down for termination.

The NUT said it has concluded arrangements to embark on an indefinite strike and also shutdown all schools in the state if the governor fails to shelve his sack plan at the end of the two weeks ultimatum.

Pupils of the LEA Primary School, Kawo and other schools in the neighbourhood, however, took the news personal when they trooped out into
the highway in the metropolis to protest the sack of their teachers.
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They were chanting songs against the government’s decision to sack teachers in primary institutions and vowed not to return to the classroom until they were called back.

The pupils aged between six and 13 were also recorded in the Facebook and other social media platforms, matching out of the school premises to the highway in the protest that caused traffic gridlock in the city as many motorists
diverted to freer and safer routes.

Meanwhile, the umbrella union of primary and secondary school teachers at a press conference in Kaduna yesterday accused El-Rufai of shifting
“the goal-post in the middle of the game.”

Chairman of the NUT in the State, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, who read their open letter to El-Rufai before journalists said, it was agreed by all stakeholders that the pass mark for the competency test be pegged at 60 per cent, while those who failed to score up to 60 per cent should be retrained.

The letter, signed by NUT Assistant Secretary General, Comrade Adamu Ango, said the NUT, Kaduna State Wing, was a responsible stakeholder in the educational sector even though it was aware of the position of the law as it relates to the body statutorily empowered to regulate the teaching profession.

It noted that it cooperated with the state government in the belief that its intention was altruistic in the sense that it was aimed at boosting education, thereby, enhancing the state.“However, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know better,” the letter reads in part.

The roads to include 6.4km Ikola Road with Odo Obasanjo Bridge from Ipaja/Command to Ilo River, the 1.75km Ogunseye Road from Ajasa/Command to Ikola Road, the 1.5km Oko Filling Road from AIT to Ilo River and the 620m Osenatu Ilo road from Ibari Road to Ilo River.

Others are the 3.1km Amikanle Road from AIT to Ogunseye Road, the 1.9km Aina Aladi Road from AIT to Ilo River and the 1.4km Aiyetoro Road with a bridge from New Market/Ishefun Road intersection to Ilo River.

Ayorinde explained that the construction of another 181 roads across the 57 local councils would begin soon.“The commitment of the Ambode-led administration is to ensure that these projects are completed before 2019. But the possibility of achieving such would require the payment of taxes by the residents,” he said.