Mass Sack: El-Rufai Is Desirous Of Casualising Teaching Profession – NUT

• Vows to embark on nationwide strike over sack of 2357 teachers by Kaduna state

BY TEMI OHAKWE, ABUJA – The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has declared that the concept of competency test designed by the Kaduna State Government for Teachers in the State was aimed at achieving an inglorious casualization of the teaching profession.

It noted that the same administration that in the year 2018 dismissed/retired in one swoop 21,780 teachers purportedly for not passing its unilaterally and arbitrarily administered competency test and later recruited about 20,000 new teachers that were subjected to vigorous test and confirmed to be competent before they were recruited into the Kaduna State Public Service have suddenly failed to meet the target.

The Teachers’ Union noted that the action of the Kaduna State Government validates the belief by all and sundry, that it has zero tolerance for the Rule of Law and decency in public affairs, which are the hallmark of a modern State in a democratic setting such as Nigeria.

The NUT, therefore, threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai-led administration in Kaduna State fails to reverse its decision on the sacking of 2,357 teachers, including its National President, Mr. Audu Amba.

The NUT while condemning the action by the Kaduna State government under El-Rufai, described it as “altruistic”, stressing that the sack of the teachers which was based on the ‘concept of competency test’ was designed by Governor El-Rufai-led administration to casualise teaching profession in the State.

The NUT in a statement signed by its National President, Comrade Audu Titus Amba said its National Executive Council (NEC), in good faith and in accordance with international best practices in the teaching profession, advocated that the Kaduna State Government should rather embark on continuous Teacher Training Programme, which would at the end of the day improve knowledge and service delivery by Teachers in the Public Schools of Kaduna State.

In the words of Amba; “This is what obtains in other professions such as Nursing, Medicine and Law. The very concept of competency test is an aberration and absurd having regard to the fact that the teachers in Kaduna State have prior to their recruitment in the State Public Service attended schools and institutions statutorily saddled with the responsibility of Teacher education and these institutions have certified them to be competent, fit and proper to be Teachers.

“Thereby validating the position of NUT that the intentions of the Kaduna State Government on this issue is everything but altruistic.

“In accordance with the Kaduna State Public/Civil Service Rules, these purported 20,000 Teachers were employed on a temporary basis and placed on a ONE YEAR probationary period.

“It is pertinent to state that the Kaduna State Government’s purported Competency Test was held during the pendency of Suit No NICN/54/2021 before the National Industrial Court, Kaduna Division and Motion on Notice filed therein seeking to restrain it from conducting the said competency test.

“Furthermore, the purported dismissal of 2,357 Teachers was done during the pendency of another Motion on Notice seeking for an order restraining the Kaduna State Government from dismissing any Teacher in the Public Schools of Kaduna State for not writing and or passing its competency test,” the statement stressed.

The NUT however resolved to continually support all the teachers in Kaduna State, who have fallen victim to what it called the anti-labour policies of the Governor El-Rufai-led administration in the State.