Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, faced a major embarrassment Wednesday, as teachers from the state-owned primary and secondary schools barricaded the way and stopped his convoy from entering the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Numbering no fewer than 250, the teachers said they were protesting their unpaid five years salaries. Thus, they literally dug in, refusing to leave the compound until the governor addressed their plight. He did not!
The protesting teachers did not rely entirely on their physical power to turn the tide in their favour hence they also turned the arena to a prayer ground, seeking God’s intervention in their matter.
The protesting teachers came from Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Demonstration Secondary School, Ndele and Seashell Model Primary School, Port Harcourt, Rivers State University International Secondary and Staff Schools, Port Harcourt and Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Comprehensive Secondary School, Bori in Khana Local Government Area.
They accused Wike of expunging their names from the government’s pay roll about five years now.
The teachers are demanding that the Governor should obey the National Industrial Court Order which had directed that they be paid their salaries and the subsequent order of the Court of Appeal in Owerri, which acknowledged them as genuine and qualified teachers of the State owned schools, and urged the governor also to pay the teachers their outstanding salaries.
Displaying their placards, the teachers recalled that the National Industrial Court had on June 13, 2018, delivered judgment in their favour, stating that “the governor’s directive stopping the payment of teachers salaries was unlawful, null and void”.
The teachers also revealed that the government appealed the judgment, which was struck out on October 31, 2020 by Justice Ita G. Mbaba-led Court of Appeal in Owerri over lack of merit.
Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association of the schools, Mr. Golden Spiff, urged the governor to consider the plight of the teachers and pay arrears of salaries, stressing saying that some of the teachers have died from hardship and ill health.
He argued that the State has the money to care for its citizens, especially teachers who put so much to build the future of the State.
He said: “Court has ordered the governor to pay us our salaries but he doesn’t want to pay. As I speak to you Rivers State has too much money, Soku Oil Well that was taken is back; the former governor was paying us until the arrival of Nyesom Wike.
“Why the pains and suffering on Rivers people? The other time we came here, we were told he went to commission a flyover, now we are here again and they told us he is not around again, are you now afraid of the Government House. We will wait untill he returns to the Government House?
The protesting teachers who were in the sun for hours demanding for their salaries were shouting “Wike pay us, you have children, there is life after power. You cannot continue to maltreat us like this and your children are going to the best schools, you are eating well everyday.”
Also speaking during the protest, Chairman of Rivers State Civil Society Organisations (RIVCSO), Mr. Enefaa Georgewill, said the teachers will continue to protest at the Government House every month until the government clears their years of unpaid salaries.
He urged Wike to consider the plight of the teachers and pay them years of their unpaid salaries, stressing that it would be evil and wickedness not to consider the pains and sufferings of the teachers.
However, no government officials addressed the protesters.
