
Accademic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, (ASUSS) Delta State chapter is currently at loggerhead with the State’s chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) following the proposed N5000 monthly deductions from their salaries across the state.
ASUSS at an emergency meeting of its members in Zone 6, comprising of Ughelli North and South, Udu, Patani, Bomadi and Burutu Local Government Areas, held at Ughelli North Local Government Council Hall, vowed to employ all legitimate means to stop the NUT from going ahead with the deductions.
Recalled that the State Chapter of NUT have through a recent publication in one of the dailies, has proposed to increase the amount being paid as subcription/contribution under the Delta State Social Savings Investment Scheme (DSTSSIS) from N2000 to N5000 monthly per teacher in line with current economic realities.
“However, speaking during the meeting, the State Chairman of ASUSS, Comrade Okoh Kenneth, pointed that the move by the NUT was informed by greed, adding that the proposal was already dead on arrival.
Okoh said, “we are here today to address our rights that is about being ripped by the NUT. On the 16th of July, 2019, the NUT said they have held a conclusive Congress of the DSTSSIS where they claimed tutors have agreed to increase their monthly deductions from N2000 to N5000.
“I want to first of all let you know that the same scheme that wants to increase the deductions has no penny in it, they are bankrupt. Those who have retired years ago are yet to be paid because they said no money and yet they are planning to increase the deductions.
“All tutors in the state are adults and you don’t force an adult to save. Saving is something voluntary. The weight of each one’s responsibility differs. It’s the tutors that should be the ones to say whether they want to increase their savings or not. There are teachers whose monthly take home is less than N5000 and you want to increase it to N5000, where will such get the money to pay.
“We have about 11,711 secondary school tutors in the state who currently pays N2000/month which amounts to over N22million monthly.
Meanwhile About 40 retirees can be paid monthly with #22 million, which translates to about 480 tutors retired in a year. Why the over one year backlog? The ones we have contributed is nowhere to be found and there is no guarantee that the one the are asking us to contribute will not be mismanaged. So we are saying no to the scheme and calling for a total stop to all forms of deductions by the NUT.”
Even if they hold 1000 congress sessions, they cannot force tutors to save money. We are saying NO to any further deductions from tutor’s salaries in favour of DSTSSIS.