The Ebonyi Government says it was deeply saddened that teachers under the Ebonyi State Universal Education Board (EBSUBEB) and their counterparts in local government areas were yet to receive their February and March salaries.
Prof. Paul Nwobashi, Commissioner for Education (Primary and Secondary Schools) who spoke with our correspondent on Friday in Abakaliki on the development said that the challenge was entirely allocation problem.
According to the commissioner, the local government areas have not been receiving their statutory monthly allocation from the federation account for sometime now which has affected the smooth fiscal running of the local government administration.
He said that the salaries of teachers under the control of the EBSUBEB were paid by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) via federal allocation paid direct into the local government federal allocation.
He explained that the state government had been augmenting funds of the local government areas to ensure that salaries were paid to workers in the local government system to save the workers untold hardship.
Nwobashi who said that the state government was deeply worried about the situation however, assured that government was doing everything possible to ensure that the issue was resolved in earnest.
He assured that the affected teachers and workers in local government areas would soon receive their February and March salaries.
“But, we are doing everything possible to ensure that they are paid; immediately the allocation comes, they will be paid.
“We have been in close discussion with the relevant stakeholders in the education sector; I have discussed with the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and I have talked with the officials of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, I have asked them to pipe down.
” It is an allocation problem, it is not from the state government; government has been intervening and have been given them a very serious money to argument the payments of December and January salaries and the other ones,” Nwobashi said.
Similarly, Mr David Elom, the national representative of the NUT, Ebonyi state Chapter confirmed the non payment of the February and March salaries to teachers and described the situation as ‘pathetic’ noting however, that efforts were in top gear to resolve the impasse.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that the story about non payment of teachers salaries for the months of February are March is true and there has been a series of meetings with the Commissioner for Education and Head of Service to address the matter,” Elom said.
Speaking on the issue, a former President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) who preferred anonymity said that workers in the 13 local government areas of the state were yet to receive their February and March salaries.
“Yes, it is a fact, it is not hidden; you can ask anyone in the local government system, ask Ivo LGA workers, ask Ohaukwu ask anybody, no staff of the local government areas in the state have received salaries for February and March,” the source said.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction Mr Stanley Ewah, NULGE President, Ebonyi chapter on the development was unsuccessful as his mobile line was not connecting.
