Anger, disappointment and work fatigue have trailed the suspension of one month strike embarked upon by public Primary schools in Enugu state.
Some of the schools visited by our reporter on Tuesday recorded low turn out of both teachers and pupils.
At Model Primary school Nsukka, Nsukka local government area, just a handful of pupils were seen in the school even as some teachers were said to have not been to come as at 8am.
One of the Head teachers who spoke to our reporter under anonymity for fear of victimisation said she was not happy that the state government failed to pay them their minimum wage in their May salary.
Nevertheless, at Oriental Primary school, Ugbene-Ajima, Uzo-Uwani local government area, just about twenty pupils were seen as at 10am when our reporter visited the school.
The head teacher declined to comment on the matter but one of the teachers who spoke under anonymity explained that they were not happy with the situation.
In her explanation,”I am not happy with the ill treatment meted out on us by the state government. But our hope is that even if the present governor does not pay us the minimum wage, the succeeding governor will do it.”
According to the head teacher,”the Enugu state government has failed us. Our Union leaders have equally disappointed us. We thought that we will paid May salary with minimum wage but we didn’t see it. We suspect our leaders might have been bribed into suspending the strike.”
Recall that the Primary school teachers in Enugu State, on Thursday suspended their one-month-old strike.
The teachers had earlier in a circular dated May 6, 2022, No. 001/05/2022 through the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), directed public primary school teachers in the state to proceed on an indefinite strike.
According to the circular signed by NUT Chairman and Secretary, Theophilus Odo and Macs Nnaji, respectively, the strike was due to the inability of the state government to pay the teachers the N30, 000 minimum wage.
The circular had said that the strike would continue until the state government pays the new wage and its consequential adjustments.
However, in a letter dated June 8, 2022, signed by the duo and addressed to the state governor, the union said it had suspended the strike for just one month.
The letter titled: ‘Notice of Suspension of Strike Action,’ partly reads: “The NUT, in an emergency state wing executive meeting on June 7, 2022, took a critical look at your intervention in the circumstances surrounding the indefinite strike by primary school teachers in the state.”
“Considering the promises made, the union resolved to suspend the strike action for one month with effect from June 8, 2022.
“The above timeframe is to enable you to give due consideration to the minimum wage saga for primary school teachers in the state,” it stated.
It could be recalled that the state government had, in February 2020, started the implementation of the new minimum wage in the state.
However, only workers in the core ministries of the state government and secondary school teachers were captured, while others in agencies and departments, as well as local government councils, were left out.
