The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike has decried the prevailing situation where teachers in the state shed tears and beg to be paid salaries.
He promised to put an end to sufferings and deprivation that have become the lot of teachers in public schools in Abia.
Emenike gave the assurance of better days ahead in a message of goodwill and solidarity he sent to Abia teachers on the occasion of the 2022 World Teachers Day (WTD), which they celebrated in Umuahia with lamentations.
While congratulating Abia teachers on their special day, Emenike also commended them for “stoically performing their duties despite the prevailing harsh environment and poor condition of service”.
“I feel the avoidable pains inflicted on you by the perpetrators of bad governance in our own dear state,” he said, adding that it is immoral to owe teachers or any category of workers their wages”.
He vowed that he would not only clear all salary arrears of teachers but ensure a sustainable system of paying their salaries, allowances and other entitlements “without making them cry and beg government to get what they duly deserve”.
Referencing the theme of this year’s WTD, ‘transformation of education begins with teachers’, Emenike, who is a renowned development economist, noted that teachers are indeed the bedrock of the education system.
He said that the incoming APC government in Abia has put in place an education policy that recognises the importance of teachers and prioritises their welfare in order to keep the state in tune with global trend in education.
But the governorship flag bearer advised Abia teachers to learn from their past mistakes and desist from helping to give power to “people who don’t know the value of education and derive morbid pleasure in subjecting teachers to hardships”.
“The forthcoming 2023 general election is an opportunity for our teachers and every other Abians, to examine their conscience and take a decisive action with their votes and bring change to the state”.
He encouraged teachers in Abia to pull themselves out of self pity and lamentations and key into the rescue mission of Abia APC by saying no to the bad system and those behind the rot in God’s Own State.
“Together we will build a new Abia that will care for its teachers”, adding that with APC government in 2023, “Abia teachers will sing a new song of joy and gratitude” during the next edition of World Teachers Day.