Teachers’ Promotion Arrears: Delta SUBEB, Cesspool Of Corruption, Needs Urgent Probe

For years Delta State Government has enjoyed impunity of refusal to settle accumulating entitlements of primary schools teachers in succession of promotions.

Now that they deemed it necessary to release the arrears under Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s administration, the dubious State Universal Basic Education Board (DSUBEB) is blatantly ripping off target beneficiaries.

The payment of the promotion arrears is smeared with usual lack of transparency, non-accountability, insensitivity and disrespect which define the unhindered sleaze in the board’s treatment of primary school teachers.

How would teachers who are contemporaries, some employed same day, promoted together, currently at same Grade Level be receiving differentials in promotion arrears? It is not just that the amounts are different, but the gaps of margins are inciting.

While the teachers cannot cry out for fear of intimidation and victimization, there is widespread resentment, disappointment and pains in silence among them.

The verified experiences shared have been upsetting by Niger Delta Peace Coalition’s findings. Imagine Teaching peers, employed same day, promoted same time, some receiving N40,000, some less than, others got over N100,000 and so on, so forth. And we are talking about arrears for three consecutive promotions.

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Yes, I repeat, DSUBEB is cesspool of corruption and I challenge the Delta State Government and the board to disprove me. Prove me wrong by publishing the criteria for paying to justify these huge differentials.

By what computation did the board come up with the conflicting and discriminatory payments? We hear others were not even captured in these payments at all. No penny given to them.

It’s all a demonstration of the disdain Delta State Government and LGs have for public Primary School Teachers through the supervising basic education board, just because the classroom limits growth opportunities for teachers.

A primary school teacher can only rise to be Head Master. Many never even become Assistant HM even after rising to the peak of the cadre grading. If these Primary School teachers were working directly in the ministries, agencies and departments of the government, most would be Directors and Permanent Secretaries by now.

It is very demeaning that the DSUBEB Board or whoever is in charge would release the conflicting payments to teachers without officially intimating each beneficiary in writing, stating clearly his entitlement and amount due him.

All they do is to embarrass the teachers with impromptu repeated screening and verification of employment credentials which the board already have from the Local Education Authorities (LEA) to the State. No formal notification on the arrears payment other than speculations and suspense.

To Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, I challenge you to go beyond approving and releasing funds for settlement of the promotion arrears for Delta teachers. There are strong indications, signals of critical sleaze over management of public primary school teachers in Delta state government.

Even as we speak, retiring teachers are being ripped off on their gratuities. In the past with salaries much smaller and the Naira not as worthless, we hear of retiring teachers receiving over N10Million in gratuities to support their post retirement years before settling for monthly pension.

As we speak, some retiring teachers are receiving less than N2Million in gratuities. Some during screening and verifications see satisfying figures of their entitlements but receive something terribly lower when payments land.

Again I call on the Governor. If he is committed to transparency and accountability as he professes, there is urgent need to probe the DSUBEB, particularly as it affects payments of salaries, gratuities and promotion arrears to Primary School Teachers.

What is also appalling is that the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUJ) bought over by government has also become a scam. Instead of holding government accountable, like addressing this fraudulent payment of promotion arrears, a partisan NUT has become a tool for oppression of the teachers it is instituted to protect.

These are same teachers NUT fleece every month in huge deductions of membership dues, the bulk of which are filtered into private vaults of the partisan leaders than addressing the common good of the teachers.

Their only concern is frolicking with governments to buy branded vehicles for them so they wait till next election circle to be used to buy N10,000 per vote from teachers.

It shall never be well with the wicked.

Zik Gbemre
November 15, 2024

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