NUT Suspends Strike, as Union, Niger Reach Agreement

By Laleye Dipo

The Niger State Government and the state wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) at the weekend reached a six-point agreement leading to the immediate suspension of the 10-day-old strike declared by the union.

The state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, personally presided over the first meeting between the government and the union officials on May 10th before directing three of his commissioners and the Head of Service to sign the agreement also in the presence of the Permanent Secretary, Establishment Matters the next day.

The high point of the agreement was the decision by government “to domesticate the 65 years of age or 40 years in service” whichever comes first for teachers in accordance with extant laws based on specific criteria”.

Part of the agreement made available to THISDAY in Minna also included the approval of full implementation of the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS), which full implementation will take full course for practising teachers/quality assurance only in addition to the refund of domestic allowances for teachers on directorate cadres that was mistakenly cut off for April 2021 with immediate effect.

The government also agreed to pay the May 2020 salary arrears for some affected teachers and also pay the End-well deductions from November 2020 to date.

Following the agreements and others reached with the government, the state Working Executive Committee of the union met in Minna on Saturday and agreed to suspend the on-going strike immediately.

The state Chairman of the union, Umar Ibrahim; the Principal Assistant Secretary General, Labaran Garba; AOPSHON Chairperson, Fatima Abdullahi Gutigi; and ANCOPSS state President, Ahmed Jaafar, jointly signed a document titled “Suspension of Indefinite Strike Action” dated May 15, 2021.

The document directs “All members at both primary and post primary schools in the state to return to their duty posts with immediate effect as the union leadership continues to pursue vigorously the full implementation of the agreement reached”.

“We thank and appreciate all members for their unflinching support, cooperation and understanding in the course of the struggle,” the document stated.