From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has been commended for the prompt release of funds to augment the payment of primary school teachers’ February salaries.
Primary School teachers had been at loggerheads with local government caretaker committee chairmen, over inability to pay their salaries for seven months.
The commendation was contained in a statement signed by Commissioners for Education, Markson Fefegha, his Local Government Administration counterpart, Agatha Goma and members of the committee set up to look into the crisis bedevilling the sector.
The commissioners also commended the headmasters of the various primary schools in the state for their active participation in the just concluded two days workshop on preparation of vouchers for monthly payment of salaries to primary school staff in their respective schools.
They also applauded members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) who took part in the meeting, for resisting pressure from the state chairman and secretary, who, they alleged, were not in sync with the efforts and intentions of the Dickson-led Restoration Administration at repositioning the sector.
The government while noting that it has been vindicated by the action of the state chairman and secretary as it had earlier disclosed that, these people were being used as tools to destabilise the operations of the government in the state by opposition leaders, stated that the affected leaders had put their personal interests above the collective interests of their members.
It attributed irregularities in the monthly payment of salary to the primary school staff to the recession in the country.