Shettima to withhold absentee teachers’ salaries

GOVERNOR Kashim Shettima of Borno State has threatened to withhold salaries of teachers who absent themselves from their schools’ duty posts in the state.

Shettima threatened the teachers while on an unscheduled visit to the Dalori Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp and a temporary school for IDPs’ children in Maiduguri metropolis.

He also expressed concerns that many teachers failed to report in the classrooms to teach their over 7, 000 students and pupils in camps.

His words: “These displaced students and pupils have been out of school for over a year; and I wonder why teachers would want to jeopardize the children’s future by absenting themselves from classes. Any act of absenteeism by these teachers is unacceptable to this administration,” adding that government would not hesitate to wield the big stick by withholding their monthly salaries.

“We have to change this culture of indiscipline and laziness. We can not continue like this. The same people that are talking about salary increments; leave grants, and other incentives are not even doing their job.’’

He also directed the Head of the Civil Service, Alhaji Yakubu Bukar to compile a comprehensive list of teachers reporting to the temporary schools at IDPs camps and the newly reopened schools and fish out absentees among them.

“You should ensure that any teacher who is not coming to school should not get his or her salary this month,” the governor directed.
Head teacher of the school, Fati Sanda, had earlier told the Governor that 92 teachers were posted to the school.

She said some of them were yet to report even as she said the school had enrolled about 7,000 children for both primary and secondary schools.

The IDPs’ special school with modernized cabin classrooms was launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Maiduguri in September to cater for the education of children at IDPs camps in the three North-East states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.