Ebonyi Teachers Protest Unpaid Salaries as Commissioner Orders Arrest of Leaders

Over 3,000 teachers from the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi State staged a protest in Abakaliki on Sunday, demanding the payment of three months’ overdue salaries and the implementation of the minimum wage. The teachers, carrying placards with messages such as “We are dying of hunger and starvation” and “Pay us our 3 months’ salaries,” expressed frustration over what they called neglect by local government chairmen.

The protest comes days after Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the council chairmen to settle the teachers’ wages ahead of Christmas. However, the ultimatum went unheeded for nearly a week, prompting the teachers to block major roads, including the entrance to the Akanu-Ibiam International Conference Centre and Onwe Road, causing hours of disruption.

The protesting teachers claimed that the non-payment had led to severe hardships, including the reported deaths of three colleagues on Christmas Day. “For the past three months, we have not received our salaries. No bonus, no minimum wage, no arrears, no promotional increment. Nothing,” lamented Mrs. Udu Nnenna, one of the protesters. Another teacher, speaking anonymously, accused local government chairmen of favoritism, alleging that secondary school teachers had received their wages and bonuses while those under the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) were left unpaid.

In a tense turn of events, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Paul Awo Nwabosi, ordered the arrest of the protest leaders rather than addressing their grievances. Eyewitnesses reported that the leaders were forcibly taken away in a police vehicle. Efforts to obtain a statement from the commissioner were unsuccessful, as he quickly left the scene.

Similarly, calls to the Chairman of the Ebonyi State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mr. Chinedu Uburu, went unanswered.