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MURIC to Govt : Pay retired teachers, contract workers and retirees’ entitlements before election

Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Lakin Akintola

An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Monday appealed to the Zamfara State Government to pay the entitlements of retired teachers, contract workers, and other retirees before the gubernatorial elections are held in February 2023. According to the group, it is only by doing so that the state government can claim to be responsible and humane.

This was disclosed in a statement sent to Newsbreak.ng by the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

This news medium understands that some retired teachers and contract workers who worked in Zamfara State are facing hunger, starvation and abject poverty. They now live in inhuman conditions with nothing to eat from morning till evening. They found themselves at the bottom of the towering pyramid of misery and became executive beggars overnight.

Men and women who have worked in the state for more than twelve years under the Zamfara State Teachers Service Board, Gusau, are being disengaged without notice since 2020 till today. Those disengaged even at the end of the month are not paid salary for that month.

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“This practice is illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional. Apart from the legal angle, Islam as a religion lays emphasis on good treatment of workers, empathy and kindness. Disengaging workers without notice and for no professional anomaly is an infringement on their Allah-given fundamental human rights,” MURIC said.

“Besides, welfare package in Zamfara State civil service appears to be non-existent. The education sector is the worst hit by this poor treatment of workers. There is no promotion for teachers, no annual salary increment, no minimum wages, no pension and no compensation of any kind.

“The classroom scenario is worse than what obtains in refugee camps. A single teacher handles more than a hundred pupils in a poorly ventilated classroom. The libraries are so badly equipped that teachers have to go on internet to source for materials for their notes of lesson. Science subjects receive little or no patronage from students because the laboratories are fit only for the Stone Age.

“The problem can be traced to the low percentage allocated to education in the state’s budget every year. For instance, although Government House alone received N21.8 billion of the N142.7 billion budget in 2021, education, health and works together got a paltry N19.36 billion. Whereas the amount and percentage of the N159.5 billion 2022 budget is still not well known, education still featured very low in the 2023 budget as the crucial zone received a meager N21.2 billion out of a robust figure of N188.8 billion which translates to 11.2%.