Thousands of teachers in Ebonyi State staged a large protest in Abakaliki on Sunday, decrying the non-payment of their salaries for three months. The aggrieved educators, numbering over 3,000, gathered from the state’s 13 local government areas to express their frustration over the council chairmen’s refusal to pay them.
The demonstration was sparked by allegations that the unpaid salaries had led to severe hardship among the teachers, with reports of three deaths attributed to the financial strain.
Many teachers carried placards with messages such as: “We are dying of hunger and starvation” and “Pay us our 3 months’ salaries and minimum wage.”
Speaking to DAILY POST, a protester, Mrs. Udu Nnenna, shared: “No bonus, no minimum wage, no arrears, no promotional increment, nothing for us for the past three months.
“Everyday, they will call us to come for screening, yet after that, no payment of salaries and we are dying gradually.
“If they don’t pay us, they should leave us to stay in our houses peacefully. How can we be using the little we have to pay for transport to come for screening?””
Another protester said; “We have been hungry for three months. Our members are dying everyday because of the refusal by local government area chairmen to pay us our salaries.
“They have paid SEB teachers three months, including minimum wage and Christmas bonus, but UBEB teachers have not been paid. We are hungry and that’s why we are angry and protesting.”
The protest escalated when the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Paul Awo Nwabosi, arrived at the scene. Instead of addressing the teachers’ grievances, the commissioner reportedly ordered the arrest of the protest leaders, who were forcibly taken away in a Hilux van.
The crisis follows a directive by Governor Francis Nwifuru, who had given council chairmen a 24-hour ultimatum to settle the teachers’ salaries before Christmas. Despite this, no payments were made, leaving the teachers with no choice but to protest.