By correspondent in Minna.
(C). Facebook.
Niger State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has disbursed a total of N1, 725, 468, 839 as soft loans to both serving and retired teachers under its, ‘Teachers’ Social Security Scheme’, (ENDWELL).
The union,however,expressed concerns that the ENDWELL scheme is being threatened by non-deductions of subscription and loan repayments from secondary school subscribers due to state government’s directives stopping the third party deductions in the past five years.
The State Principal Assistant Secretary General, Comrade Labaran Garba disclosed this at the opening ceremony for the 20th anniversary/Biennial General Meeting of the union which took place at the State NUT Secretariat, Tungan-Gwauro Minna on Thursday.
Giving a breakdown of the union’s finances for the year under review, Comrade Garba said, N1, 424, 626, 214 was spent on purchasing materials and household equipment while N66, 459, 725 is for the purchasing plots of land for interested members.
“The sum of; N154, 702, 900 was given to members as scholarship revolving loans, special loans covering the completion of houses, medicals and others to the tune of N79, 680, 000 12, 782 retired members, deceased and those on transfer were given N877, 626, 727 as terminal benefits, and N2.5 million to members as micro-finance loans”.
Niger State NUT Chairman, Comrade Akayago Adamu Mohammed had earlier lamented the difficulties in its ENDWELL scheme operations caused by the non-deduction of subscription and loan repayment from secondary school subscribers due to directives from the state government stopping third party deductions in the past five years.
The union in the state also discovered that some local government teachers’ ENDWELL cooperatives have their funds withheld by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and all efforts to retrieve the said funds have not achieved expected results.
To end the sufferings of members, Comrade Mohammed nevertheless pleaded with the state government to ensure payment of outstanding salaries of teachers in Katcha Local Government Area as a way of motivating them to effectively do their job.
Meanwhile, Niger state government has assured of preparedness to encourage those in the teaching profession by implementing the Teachers Regustration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) career pact on career progressions among teachers.
Governor Umaru Mohammed Bago, spoke through the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Hadiza Asabe Mohammed said the TRCN is to encourage training and retraining of teachers.
Many teachers in the state have not been doing well because they have not been able to access refresher course, Governor Bago said hence the needed training and retraining not only to update their knowledge but to remain relevant in their chosen career.
Edited by Dawud Ahmed.
