Over 300 of their members, according to Syrus Hassan, Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers in Kaduna State’s Chikun Local Government Area, have not received paychecks in several months.

He revealed this in a conversation with reporters at a one-day conference titled “Dignity of a Teacher 2023,” which was held on Friday in Kaduna and was organized by Uncle Focus Educational Advise and General Contract Ltd.

Hassan continued by lamenting the fact that teachers were still falling behind in terms of welfare and that some of their members had gone months without receiving rewards and incentives like leave grants.

He said the government had tried its best in educating teachers by making it important for them to improve their knowledge and attend workshops, there was need for them to be paid their wages.

“The conference was educative and would add value, dignity and respect to teachers who found their way to the conference,” he said, adding that it was to enlighten and update their (teachers) knowledge on modern techniques.

“The government has tried its best in educating teachers for making it important for them to see the need to improve knowledge and attend workshops.

“Actually, to say the truth, teachers are still lacking behind in terms of welfare. We want to thank them, but up till now some teachers are still not getting one or two benefits and incentives like leave grants for years but we know that it cannot go round.

“We’ve been pressing on to see that the teachers are paid but up till now, we still have a number of them that have not been paid for several months.

“Unpaid teachers are up to about 300,” he lamented, calling on the government to pay the wages of teachers who are owed salary arrears, as he blamed the development on bureaucratic bottleneck and long process procedures.

“Some of the old teachers are having certificate saga. It was realised that their certificate had issues. Some have been cleared and approvals were given (for them) to be paid, but till now, they have not been paid. Non-teaching staff members like security workers, nannies amongst others, and regular employees, have also not been paid for almost two years now.

Ziniyet Hillary, the head consultant and co-founder of Uncle Focus Educational Consult and General Contract Ltd, also gave a speech. She described how her company’s mission is to improve education in Kaduna, Nigeria, Africa, and the rest of the globe.