Primary school teachers in Benue State who are on the verge of retirement have complained of maltreatment by the education authorities who they say, arbitrarily stop their salaries without notification or any formal disengagement by successive administrations months before retirement.
Several teachers who spoke to this newspaper said though they were on the verge of retirement, their salaries were stopped since December last year and since then, they had been asked to go their local government headquarters and the state headquarters in Makurdi for frequent verifications without any result or rectification of the problem.
They described such act as capable of increasing their already injured and demoralized psyche, having suffered non-payment of salaries in active service, in addition to reluctance in payment of gratuities and pension upon eventual retirement.
Quite often, teachers are made to travel to Makurdi for intermittent screenings before salaries but on several occasions, their salaries don’t get paid even after such screening, they said.
As a result, many of them have been subjected to hunger and abject poverty in spite of not having been officially disengaged from service.
Teachers who spoke in Ogbadibo, Ohimini, Okpokwu and Otukpo areas with pleas of anonymity for fear of being victimized said since December, they had not received their salaries, and had not been given any reason.
“They have been telling those of us who were not paid to go to the local government headquarters to iron out the problem since January, and when we got there we discussed with the education authorities, but nothing happened. They then told us to go to Makurdi, many went but came back empty handed, we don’t know what they want,” a teacher told our reporter in Ogbadibo.
Another teacher who said she was actually waiting to retire this year said that appears to be the new system of dropping teachers who are on the verge of retirement in the state, which is improper.
“They would suddenly stop your salary, and there is nobody to listen to you, no letter, no information whatsoever. While others are getting their salaries, you won’t get yours, some teachers who were to retire last year but were treated that way took them to court, and they are still dragging it,” another teacher said.
A teacher in Ohimini said; “They said the government had increased our retirement age to 65 years, but even those who are not yet 65 suddenly get their salaries stopped without any notification. I was waiting for my salary in December to celebrate Christmas, but many of us never got any salary. Till now, we have been waiting but nothing has come. They told us to go to Makurdi to complain, we went but ended up wasting transport money as we returned home without any money,” a teacher said.
“We were told to go to Makurdi. We all couldn’t go because of funds but some of us contributed transport money and appointed representatives to go on our behalf, they went and came back but the story remained the same. At least if you are disengaging someone who has put in many years in service there should be a better way of doing it instead of abruptly subjecting them to such suffering. I am owing a lot of money now and don’t know how to pay back because I thought by now we would have been paid since we haven’t been formally disengaged,” a female teacher said.
“As I speak, I have serious illness, I usually go to hospital for treatment, I spend money on feeding the family and facing this illness, if they want to retire us let them pay the backlog and retire us, this is not fair,” she added.
In an interview with Leadership Weekend, a retired assistant head teacher at St Theresa’s Primary School, Wurukum Makurdi, Justina Ujah, said she retired on March 6, 2022 and before then she was not notified of any salary stoppage, but just noticed that for months she was working and her salary was not coming again and when she inquired to know why, was asked check to the head office.
She went there and was given a date to come and collect her letter of retirement.
She said her last salary was in February 2022 but supposed to be paid till the day she completed processing her pension entitlements, but from that March till she finished the process, she did not receive any kobo.
Another teacher, Florence Gbatste who retired from LGEA Primary School, Duuv Ipav in Gboko local government said she retired in 2018, though she was notified by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) of her retirement and after following all the due process of retirement nothing was paid to her.
“In 2017 before my retirement, our salaries were not paid for 10 months, this implies that in 2017, we collected only January and February salaries, and till date the 10 months are still outstanding, although this one appears to be a general problem in the state.
“I had a problem in 2018 which was my retirement year, my salary was stopped for a long time, in fact, it was as if I was no longer a teacher, so after several complaints and going from one office to another, they started paying me again but up till date my May salary of 2017 has not been paid,” she said.
She added that after following due procedures and her name was finally enrolled on the pension payroll, she had not collected pension from 2019, adding that in 2021, the government was selectively paying pensioners, that is; if they pay you in March, another payment might be in June or even longer.
Gbatse said; “As I speak to you, I had a fatal accident and I am incapacitated, I can’t move except I am supported, if you see me physically you will have pity on me, I cannot pursue all these things again, let the government of today work it out and call us for payment.”
Reacting, the state chairman of Nigeria Union of teachers (NUT) Comrade Terna Akuma in a telephone conversation however debunked insinuations that salaries of about to retire teachers were being withheld without notification or formal engagement.
Akuma lamented a situation where teachers don’t follow the procedures for retirement but rather engage in shortcut procedures and at the end turn around to peddle complaints.
“I want to warn that, any teacher who follow shortcut retirement procedures as a way of getting his or her retirement benefits and gets hooked along the line is on his or her own,” he said.
He said; “Within three months of notification and terminal leave, the retiree would be following the processing of his or her documentation, that is the movement of her retirement file from the local government to the last stage, so that he or she can be gazetted as a pensioner for immediate payment of gratuity and pension.”
He maintained that before now it was difficult to go through all these stages which at the end a retiree would not even get any of the two even if gazetted and some teachers felt is a waste of time and decide in most cases to look for ways that would keep them in service to continue collecting salaries.
He said with the coming on board of Governor Hyacinth Alia, everything has been made easy for all pensioners now, and whether you notify the board of your retirement or not the computer would notify them, and as you judiciously follow your retirement procedures, your gratuity will be paid immediately and you will also be enrolled on the monthly pension payroll.
Akuma urged all about to retire primary school teachers to ensure that they give three month’s notice to the appropriate authorities and proceed on terminal leave and as well use the period to follow the movement of their files from the LG headquarters to State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Bureau For Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs and lastly the Accountant General of the State where their names would be enrolled on the pay roll of gratuities and pension.
In SUBEB, a source who does not want his name in print told Leadership Weekend that the major challenge faced by some about to retire teachers is that most of them don’t give the board retirement notice as they is supposed to done when their time of their retirement draws close.
According to him, about to retire teachers are supposed to give notification to the board a few months to their retirement day, but due to what was happening before, where one would retire and become a burden to his family, because no gratuity, no pension, most teachers decide to keep quiet and continue to collect salaries for fear of becoming redundant after retirement.
According to him, collection of salary would continue sometimes for years until the time a screening comes up and they would discover such a person and remove his name from the payroll.
“May be that is why they are saying their names are removed without notification, did they notify the government when their retirement time came, such persons crying fowl need to be checked thoroughly,” he added.
However, he said there is now a remarkable improvement in SUBEB by the new administration, and any about to retire teachers, whether you give notification or not, the computer would notify the board on who is to retire any month and year and the salary would be stopped at that point.
He said in an ideal situation, individual civil servants or teachers are the ones to give notice of their retirement time so that the concerned authorities would prepare their retirement documentation.
The source decried the behavior of some teachers not notifying the board when their retirement time is near as was done by past administrations where retirees benefits were not paid after retirement as at when due.
He maintained that, knowing fully well that if they retire without benefits, even if they notify the authorities, most teachers would decide to work their ways and continue to collect their normal salaries until they are caught through screening.
“But now with the coming on board of the Governor Alia led administration which has made payment of gratuity and pension easy and promptly many about to retire teachers have started notifying the board willingly, and even if they don’t the computer will notify the board,” he said.
A teacher who identified himself as Augustine in an interview with Leadership Weekend said he was already preparing to notify the board of his retirement from active teaching after 32 year of meritorious service to start a family business.
He said he is retiring now to prevent unforeseen circumstances that may occur when Governor Alia might have completed his tenure, adding that now, teachers are collecting their gratuities immediately after retirement, and monthly pension.
“I don’t know what will happen when another person comes on board as governor, he might reverse to status quo, I am not praying for bad, but because of the disappointment we face every day, some people may not have pensioners or civil servants at heart, a stitch in time saves nine,” he added.
The commissioner for education and knowledge management Fredrick Ikyaan who spoke to our correspondent through the permanent secretary in the ministry, Agbo Ochekpe, on the plight of about to retire teachers asked our correspondent to seek clarification at the SUBEB headquarters, saying the education ministry is a supervising ministry, and anything that concerns primary schools is directory under SUBEB.