Lagos Teachers Protest NTI’s Short-payment of Allowance

Junior secondary school teachers in Lagos State have embarked on a protest over the short-payment of their training allowance by the National Teachers Institute (NTI).

Campus Square learnt that the teachers, who participated in the institute’s capacity building programme in 2011, became annoyed after receiving N2,500 instead of the N14,000 promised by the institute.

“They promised to pay us N14,000 after the training, which covers transportation and accommodation/feeding allowance. We opened accounts and for more than six months, we didn’t receive any alert, only for us to start receiving N2,500 instead of N14,000,” the protesting teachers told Campus Square.

One of the protesters, Mrs Adaranijo Juliana of State Junior High School, Alimosho, Lagos, confirmed the situation, saying it’s very embarrassing.

According to her, “we appreciate government for the initiative. But it’s embarrassing to hear that after six months, we were not paid and when the bank alert came, it wasn’t what we were all expecting. The agreement was N14,000 but only N2,500 was paid into my account without any explanation.”

“We demand explanation from the NTI authority and call on the Federal Government to look into the matter and ensure that the teachers are not cheated,” she concluded.

Another aggrieved teacher, Kehinde Tunde Shonaike, from Army Children High School, Lagos, described the situation as unfortunate. In a chat with Campus Square, he said, “the programme was held from 12-17 September, 2011 and they promised to pay us N14,000 as allowance. Now, we only received N2,500.”

Campus Square’s investigation revealed that some teachers have not even received alerts. Mrs Osati from Army Cantonment Junior School said: “I have heard from my colleagues that only N2,500 was paid but I have not even received any alert.”

Efforts to speak with NTI authority as at the time of filing in this report proved abortive.

However, one of the Centre coordinators/facilitators of the programme from the University of Lagos, Dr. Awoyinfa Joseph Olayinka, confirmed the story, urging the aggrieved teachers to be calm.

“I am aware of the situation and many participants have called to complain but I implored them to be calm and wait for explanation from the NTI authority because this is the first time such would be happening since the beginning of the programme initiated by NTI to rebrand teachers across the nation. I am optimistic that something will be done to redress the situation because NTI is noted for taking good care of teachers over the years,” Awoyinfa said.