Boko Haram: 173 teachers killed, says NUT

A total of  173 teachers have lost their lives in Boko Haram attacks in Borno and Yobe states over the years,the National President of the  Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Michael Olukoya,said yesterday.

One hundred  and seventy of the teachers were killed in Borno and the remaining three in Yobe, he told  the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo.

He  decried the continued detention of the Chibok schoolgirls by the insurgents and the unabated siege of the school system by Boko Haram in the country.

The NUT president called on the Federal Government to expend all resources available to free the abducted schoolgirls and save them from the psychological trauma.

“Government should appropriately police the school environment for the security of pupils and teachers and create conducive learning environment for quality education delivery,” Olukoya said.

Speaking at a separate press conference, the NUT President who was in Uyo for the union’s  fifth quadrennial meeting with the theme, “Changing Nigeria’s fortune through quality teachers,’’ warned that the NUT would go on strike should  the Federal Government  fail to address the issue of payment of 27.5 Teachers  Allowance to its members  in unity schools and other federal schools.

He said  the union would meet with teachers in the affected  schools and give the federal government deadline on the payment of the  allowance.

“Up till now, our teachers in unity schools have not been paid the 27.5 per cent Teachers’ Allowance. After this conference, we are meeting with teachers of unity schools and we will give the federal government a deadline,” he said.

“If, after the expiration of the deadline, the 27.5 per cent Teachers’ Allowance is not paid, we will embark on strike. The strike will be total. NUT will also join teachers of the unity schools and other federal schools in the strike.

“The time is ripe in Nigeria for the regulated scale of salary and other conditions of service to take a central stage in national attention if, indeed, the quality of teaching and the quality of

education are to translate into national fortune.”

The union also blamed the nation’s worsening educational standard on the state of infrastructural decay, saying  the situation  has led to serious crises of confidence among stakeholders in tertiary institution.

The NUT said that unless there is a revolutionary improvement in the state of facilities  in  primary and secondary schools, every other expenditure on education would amount to a waste of the country’s