Teachers in Oyo State have commended the state government for prompt payment of their salaries, recruitment of new teachers, career progression of teachers, promotion of primary school teachers to salary grade level 16 and the appointment of a teacher as the executive chairperson of the Oyo State Post-primary Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM).
Speaking at this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebration in Ibadan, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Oyo State wing, Comrade Raji Oladimeji Ismail, said Governor Seyi Makinde’s magnanimity culminated in the array of achievements recorded by his administration at NUT.
He applauded the evacuation of the six year promotion waiting period for primary school teachers, adding that this administrative clog was evacuated by the union’s advocacy.
The chairman noted that the Oyo State government has also created 10 TESCOM zonal offices, and subsequent appointment of teachers as Permanent Secretaries/Tutor Generals into the newly-created TESCOM zonal offices.
Comrade Raji said his administration had strengthened members’ welfare schemes, noting that the Oyo State government had reviewed upwardly car and housing loans for teachers.
He, however, noted that teachers in the state still faced challenges of “inadequate funding of education, infrastructural deficits, and the need for continuous capacity development of teachers.”
Oladimeji said: “on a very special note, I wish to present a few requests of teachers for prompt attention of the Oyo State government: the need to expedite action on approving the long standing request of inter-zonal transfer.”
According to him, the state government needed to hasten the release of running grants to school heads to enhance the smooth running of schools.
In his address, the Executive Chairman of the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Nureni Aderemi Adeniran, said that approval for 2023/2024 promotion letters had been received from the Civil Service Commission for primary school teachers.
He, therefore, said very soon the promotion letters would be released to teachers, as the letters were being signed by the Personnel Department of the Board.
Dr. Adeniran also said the pending issue of inter-zonal transfer of 2005 teachers back to LGUBEAs of their choice had been approved by the governor, while the board was making efforts to compile the list.
He disclosed that: “The Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, under my supervision, has been working with NUT, Association of Primary School Teachers Headteachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON) and other stakeholders to ensure teachers welfare are secured.”
The OYOSUBEB chairman, revealed that the Board had received an approval of the governor to ensure the integration of the remaining teachers on secondment into the TESCOM employment grid.
Adeniran called on NUT to enlighten teachers, especially the newly-recruited, on the public service rules, urging them not to take administrative matters to the public space.
“If you have grievances or enquiries, there are channels through which you can lay your complaints, not through the social media,” Adeniran said.
The National President, NUT, Comrade Audi Titus Amba, applauded Governor Makinde’s efforts in the Oyo State teaching sector.
Represented by Comrade Shaibu Olayinka Yisa, the president equally appreciated the NUT chairman, chairman, OYOSUBEB, and other stakeholders in the education sector.
He said this year’s theme, “Recasting Teaching As a Collaborative Profession,” aimed at building a resilient system in the teaching profession.
