Rivers teachers beg Gov Wike over five years unpaid salaries

Teachers in the employment of primary and secondary schools owned by tertiary institutions in Rivers State have appealed to Governor Nyesom Wike to remove their shame by paying their five years salaries arrears.

The affected teachers are in the employment of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Demonstration Secondary School, Ndele; Rivers State University International Secondary and Staff School, Port Harcourt, and the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Comprehensive Secondary School, Bori.

The teachers, numbering over 250, made the plea at a joint media briefing with the Rivers State Civil Society Organization in Port Harcourt.

According to them, their salaries were stopped on the 18th of February 2016 by the state government, when it allegedly issued a directive that names of the affected teachers be expunged from the state government salary voucher.

Appealing to Governor Wike, to as a matter of urgency pay up the salaries and the accruing arrears, the teachers said they have not been able to cater for their families and health needs, as they have faced untold hardship in the last five years.

The teachers also claimed that despite winning every litigation, the state government had refused to pay  them.

One of the female teachers said: “If you look at where we are now, it is like saying that we are almost dead. Many of my colleagues are suffering from one ailment or the other.

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“We are pleading with the governor, we are all Rivers’ sons and daughters that he should please reconsider and pay us.”

Speaking at the press briefing, the Chairman of the Rivers State Civil Society Organization, Eneefa Georgewill, appealed to Governor Wike to urgently respond and clear up the affected teachers’ salaries.

Georgewill said: “The State is a sub-unit of the federal government, and we expect that the Rivers State Government will act responsibly by commencing payment of the teachers’ salaries as well as the arrears accrued during the period the salaries were stopped illegally.

“What will the Rivers State Government gain in all of these? Especially in the face of the fact that an Industrial Court and even a Court of Appeal has instructed the Rivers State Government to pay their salaries.

“We are joining the teachers to plead that the Rivers State Government pay the salaries of these teachers before the end of February 2021 or we will go on a protest.”

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