NUT commends AKHA Speaker

The Akwa Ibom State  House of Assembly  has been commended by the State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers following the decision of the House to vote against Local Government autonomy in the 2014 amendment of the 1999 constitution.

Speaking with our correspondent in his office in Uyo, the state chairman of the union, Comrade EtimU kpong said the 5th assembly under the leadership of Rt. Hon (Elder) Samuel Ikon has been very supportive in the struggle to save public primary education in Akwa Ibom State from total collapse.

He recalled that it was through the intervention of the Honourable speaker and by extension the House of Assembly  that backlog of teachers’ salaries were cleared at once, saying, the intervention of the House saved public primary education in recent times.

According to him “ If other states of the federation were lucky to have a man like Elder Samuel Ikon as their speaker, then the welfare of public primary school teachers would have been better than what we have now. When we visited him, he gave us a listening ear and we briefed him and he in turn was able to convince his colleagues to vote no to local government autonomy”.

Comrade Ukpong said the speaker by that action has proven to be a leader that can give direction and I am happy that though there was strong agitation for local government autonomy, the House looked beyond financial freedom for councils and saw a more fundamental issue which is the funding of primary education and welfare of teachers which he noted is beyond the capacity of Local government councils in the country. 

“If autonomy is granted local government areas in the country we will be going back to the dark days when a whole term is lost as a result of industrial action. There is no way local government councils can fund primary education in Nigeria. The speaker and members of the House of Assembly have shown that they think about the future of our state and country” he noted.

It could be recalled that shortly after the draft amendment was handed over to the Elder Samuel Ikon in his capacity as the chairman conference of speakers of state legislature, the state wing of NUT had paid a courtesy call on the speaker where the union briefed the speaker on the dangers of local government autonomy vis a vis the welfare of teachers.

The House had during Thursday plenary voted against local government autonomy.