Schools resumption: Rivers government appeals to protesting workers

Forum 7 years ago

Schools resumption: Rivers government appeals to protesting workers

The Rivers State Government has appealed to security guards at the State owned Modern Primary Schools to shelve their planed industrial action at the resumption of the 2016/2017 academic session.
The Security Guards had asked Parents and guardians to keep their children and wards at home saying no public school will be open for academic activities.

The protesting security guards who are being owed more than thirteen months salary noted that all public primary
schools will be under lock and key.

Meanwhile, Commissioner for Education in Rivers state, Professor Kaniye
Ebeku in an attempt to pacify the aggrieved security guards pleaded
that the state government be given a little more time to sort out
all outstanding payments.

Prof. Ebeku said the government was ready to clear the backlog of salaries.

He noted that the current economic challenges in the country had made it difficult for the Rivers state government

to effectively fund every sector at once.

The Education commissioner who blamed the immediate past administration for leaving numerous liabilities, also criticized the security guards for threatening to resort to self help rather than properly engaging the government.

“?I am surprised that they have threatened to shut down schools again. We have done what we believe is the
needful. Approval has been given for the payment of their salaries.

“It is not fair for someone who is negotiating to go public and use threats to achieve his purpose. For me, that
is irresponsible. The government is not happy to owe anybody. Everyone is aware of the current economic situation in the country.

“Even what they claimed is owed them is a debt that was incurred by the immediate past administration. But as
responsible government, we know they are doing a good job in protecting our schools but they must understand that as a government, we have other responsibilities in other sectors.

“I can confirm that their money has been
approved and I want to caution that they should not resort to such belligerent approach,” Prof. Ebeku said.