Bomba Dauda
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), recently, issued a press statement, entitled: “Kaduna State Teachers and the Purported Competency Test,” which was signed by the National President of the union, Comrade Audu Amba and the Secretary General, Dr. Eke Ene.
The press statement was aimed at putting the record straight regarding the purported competency test and the subsequent sacking of 2,357 Teachers by Gov. Nasiru el-Rufai of Kaduna State.
In the press statement, the NUT stated categorically that, It is pertinent to state that the kaduna state government purported competency test was held during the pendency of |Suit No NICN/54/2021 before the National Industrial Court, Kaduna Division and Motion on Notice filed therein seeking to restrain it from conducting the said competency test.
The purported dismissal of 2,357 Teachers was done during the pendency of another Motion on Notice seeking for an order restraining the Kaduna State Government from dismissing any Teacher in the Public Schools of Kaduna State for not writing and or passing its competency test. The action of the kaduna state government validates the belief by all and sundry, that it has zero level tolerance for Rule of Law and decency in public affairs, which are the hallmark of a modern state in a democratic setting such as ours.
The case of our dear President, Comrade Audu Titus Amba clearly establishes the fact that the whole concept of competency test in kaduna state is arbitrarily and lacking in certainty, in that by virtue of the fact that he has been a Trade Union leader for over 22 years engaged in day-to-day labour related assignments both within and outside Nigeria, he did not write the competency test in the year 2018. He was not dismissed then for failure to write the competency test. The question that readily agitates the mind in the circumstance is, what has changed in 2021/2022.
It is also rather very sad and curious that the dismissal letter relative to the NUT President was in the public domain via the social media even when it has not been served on him. The intention clearly is to intimidate the NUT President and embarrass the Teachers in Nigeria. This like other anti-labour and people policies of the kaduna state government has failed on arrival. We got news for His Excellency, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai and his co-travelers to wit: power is transient.
The NUT family hereby reaffirms its commitment to stand with its revered President Audu Titus Amba and all the teachers in Kaduna State, who have fallen victims of the anti-labour policies in kaduna state and which policies have defied all logics and lacking in milk of human kindness.
The NUT hereby reiterates its irrevocable resolve to continue to perform its historical role of defending the rights of teachers in Nigeria and no amount of anti-labour policies of the Kaduna State government and elsewhere can diminish this resolve. The seeming triumph of evil over good can only be temporary.
Kaduna State is the second most indebted state in Nigeria and the state government is on a free roller coaster move to satisfy the conditionalities handed down to it by its creditors, which normally includes downsizing of the public service without even the remotest regards to our peculiar circumstances.
