Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has said he had approved the payment of N30,000 minimum wage to 5, 439 teachers of the Local Education Authority (LEA) who passed competency tests.
The governor disclosed this on Wednesday in a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Maiduguri, Borno state.
The 5,439 teachers at local government levels were those who passed basic literacy and numeracy tests conducted by a committee which Zulum constituted in 2021.
The committee assessed 17,229 LEA teachers across Borno’s 27 local government areas from which a total of 11, 790 (69%) of the entire LEA teachers were found unqualified to teach.
Amongst them, 2,389 teachers had no academic qualification whatsoever, not even secondary school certificates while 3,815 of the teachers were found to be untrainable.
Governor Zulum had immediately after receiving the report in February 2022, directed that payment of N30,000 minimum wage be applied to the teachers who passed the test.
The governor told the NLC that since the assessment committee had found that out of 11, 790 unqualified teachers, there are 7,975 teachers (46.3%) who are trainable, the state will soon support a first batch of 1,000 to further their education through a special in-service facility that would enable the teachers to go back to tertiary schools as full time students while getting their monthly salaries.
Zulum said, however, that the 7,975 unqualified teachers would only be enlisted for minimum wage after completing their education and becoming qualified to teach.
In January 2020, all Borno civil servants at the state level including teachers of secondary schools, began to enjoy a national minimum wage of N30,000.
The NLC Chairman in Borno State, Comrade Yusuf Inuwa, thanked the governor for his commitment to welfare of workers and also called his attention to other areas that include payments of promotion benefits.
Mr Inuwa made special note of the governor’s payment of 2020 and 2021 leave grants to entitled workers, as well as constant payment of monthly salaries, pensions and significant progress made on gratuities.
