The Ebonyi State Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers has directed its members in seven Local Government Areas where months of salary areas are owed to embark on an indefinite strike.
The strike, which commenced at noon on Thursday, was announced in a statement by Bassey Asuquo, State Secretary of the union.
The affected LGAs are Edda; Ebonyi, Ezza South, Ezza North, Ishielu, Ivo, and Ohaukwu.
The LGA chairmen of the affected councils were alleged to owe teachers four months salaries covering October, November, December and January.
According to the statement on Thursday, the union directed its members in the seven LGAs to down tools after negotiation with the relevant authorities in the affected councils failed to produce fruitful results.
Asuquo further noted that the declaration of the industrial action was done after due consultations with relevant organs of the union at the state and national levels.
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The statement read in part: “Sequel to our earlier notice on mobilisation for industrial strike, we have thoroughly reviewed the compliance of Local Government Area chairmen regarding the clearance of our members salaries.
“As at the close of work on Wednesday, we acknowledge that some LGAs have cleared the backlog of salaries owed to our members.
“However, we regret to inform you that several chairmen of LGAs have failed to clear the backlog of our members outstanding salary arrears.
“In response to this non compliance therefore, we hereby declare indefinite strike action in the affected council areas which include; Edda, Ebonyi, Ezza North, Ezza South, Ishielu, Ivo and Ohaukwu LGAs respectively.
“All our state branch officers in the affected LGAs are instructed to adhere strictly to this directive and ensure the immediate enforcement of the strike action from 12am on Thursday, February 6.
“The failure of these LGAs chairmen to meet their obligations to our members is unacceptable and we will not relent until our demands are met.
“We call on all our members to remain steadfast and continue their support for the strike.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that there is 100 percent compliance of teachers in the industrial strike in all the schools visited in Ebonyi LGA on day one of the strike.
In some of the schools visited, including Ezza High School, Ishieke; Presco Secondary School; Urban Model Secondary School; and Nnodo Secondary School, all in Ebonyi LGA, teachers were seen discussing in groups while pupils and students were seen trekking back to their respective homes.
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