Labour union condemns Buhari for backing El-Rufai’s plan to sack teachers

NLC decries Buhari’s support for El Rufai to sack teachers in Kaduna.

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s support for Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El Rufai’s plan to sack almost 22,000 teachers who failed the competency test in the state and recruit 25,000, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has condemned the president for the move.

President Buhari, speaking at a special retreat of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), said:
“what El-Rufai is trying to do now is exactly what (the respected Nigerian) told me 10 years ago. It is a very very serious situation when teachers cannot pass the exams they are supposed to teach the children to pass. It is a very tragic situation we are in and this gathering together to me is one of the important (things) in this administration,”

However, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, told newsmen on behalf of the affected unions, Chairman of Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions, JORAISU, and General Secretary of NASU, that the endorsement of the sack by the president was uncalled for.

He said the NLC would write a protest letter to the presidency on the matter.

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He said: “We condemn the President’s endorsement of the mass sack. How can a President that promised to create jobs turn around to kill jobs? We have stated this we will not accept these sacks because it did not follow due process.”

“The state government claimed that the teachers were not qualified, who employed the teachers in the first place? We doubt the veracity of the examination because government can set the examination for the teachers to fail to justify the mass sack action.”

“This has been our plight on the issues in dispute with Government and currently all the workers in the Research and Allied Institutions are eager to resume the suspended strike action at expiration of the ultimatum on Tuesday, 14th November, 2017 since Government up till this time has not responded positively to our demand to pay the 12 months salary arrears on Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS) and implement other issues as agreed upon in the interim report of the Presidential Committee.”