Benue, UBEC Earmark N6bn For Primary School Infrastructure

Benue State has committed N6.4 billion to the provision of infrastructure in primary schools to enhance effective teaching and learning, governor Samuel Ortom, has said.

Ortom disclosed this yesterday during a courtesy visit by officials of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), at the Benue Peoples’ House, in Makurdi.

He said that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) provided a grant of N3.2 billion for the project while the state government pledged same amount as counterpart fund from the N5.6 billion approved by the State Assembly for payment of counterpart funds across the board.

The governor, who promised to ensure that teachers in the state were no longer maltreated, apologised for the sad ordeal of the state’s teachers in the past.

According to him, all monies meant for provision of infrastructure, equipment, and welfare would be judiciously deployed, noting that primary education was important to society as it forms the foundation upon which the future is built.

Leader of delegation and the state NUT chairman, Comrade Godwin Anya, commended Ortom for commencing the implementation of minimum wage to teachers and listed delay in the payment of salaries, delayed promotion, non-payment of leave title grant, retirement and death benefits as well as poor environment in schools as some of the problems confronting teachers.

The teachers of Benue State are happy with you, they are also in support of the steps you have taken so far with regard to security and welfare of workers in the state,” Anya stated.