According to sources involved in the recruitment, the 1500 teachers recruited in 2019 and shared across the state’s 25 local government areas by NSUBEB had to wait six months before receiving their salaries, and when they did, the government began paying the salaries in June, leaving December 2019 to May 2020 unsettled.
About 1500 primary school teachers hired in December 2019 by the Niger State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB) have yet to receive salaries for five months, creating a long, discomforting backlog for them.
According to sources involved in the recruitment, the 1500 teachers recruited in 2019 and shared across the state’s 25 local government areas by NSUBEB had to wait six months before receiving their salaries, and when they did, the government began paying the salaries in June, leaving December 2019 to May 2020 unsettled.
“In December 2019, I was employed by the Niger State government as a classroom teacher on a salary of N36,350, but I was not paid until six months later, and when I started receiving the salary, the five-month backlog was not considered,” a source told SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters also learnt that the then-Chairman of NSUBEB used to withdraw all of the 1,500 teachers’ salaries to make cash payments and sometimes transferred directly from a private account, which led to the board Chairman’s dismissal in 2022.
The source added that the then chairman of the board once said that the problem was from the Local Government Chairmen not NSUBEB as NSUBEB only paid the teachers through the local government authority.
However, a local government Chairman clarified that NSUBEB was responsible for paying the salaries of the 1500 teachers, while local government authorities only paid salaries to LEA staff, according to the source.
“The government is no longer even talking about the backlog salary; we are begging Mohammed Umar Bago’s government to intervene so that the backlog of salary is paid to us.”
SaharaReporter also learnt from a source that the government, through its Commissioner of Primary and Secondary Education and NSUBEB Chairman, had directed that no teacher or principal should speak to journalists about the issue.
When contacted, Dr. Hadiza Asabe Mohammed, Niger State Commissioner Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, told SaharaReporters that NSUBEB was in charge of everything related to teachers in the state.
“I think what you need to do about that is to link up with the chairman of NSUBEB,, because primary school teachers are directly pay through local governments authority and SUBEB.”
The Commissioner also denied the teachers’ allegations that the state government, through her ministry, had issued a warning to all state headmasters, principals, and teachers not to speak to the media about any issue concerning anythung.
In his part, the Executive Chairman of NSUBEB, Muhammad Baba Ibrahim denied that there are teachers in the state who are owned five month backlog salary.
“These are issue that we need to confirm from record, I need to confirm from my record to be able to confirm to you.
“We don’t have any teacher who hasn’t been paid salary in Niger State. I don’t have record of teachers that has not been paid, I don’t know where you are getting your story from”, the chairman said.
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