Makurdi, the capital of Benue State was literary on fire on Thursday, following a protest staged by primary school pupils over the declaration of an indefinite strike by school teachers who are demanding for the payment of national minimum wage.
The protesting children from different schools turned against the state government in a solidarity march to protest the non payment of their teachers’ minimum wage. They said their future was better than anything else, urging the Governor to commence payment of their teachers’ minimum wage.
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The pupils took over the streets of Makurdi, setting tyres ablaze and raining insults on Gabriel Suswam’s led government.
Meanwhile, in a chat with newsmen yesterday, Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, Godwin Anya, said that the teachers had no other choice but to embark on the strike.
He flayed the government for allegedly violating the agreement it signed with the Union that payment would commence in August.
According to him, under the terms of the agreement, the government was to fully implement the minimum wage to all teachers.
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He disclosed that the government came up with a new chart, which showed that none of the teachers would benefit from full payment of the wage.
According to him, the strike was called by the national body of the union, which ordered the state chapter not to suspend it until the government implements the demand.
The chairman added that the new chart released by the government would only benefit those below grade level 7.
