Enugu Assembly seeks unified salary for primary school teachers, LG staff

Enugu State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, debated a motion seeking to have a unified system of paying the salaries of primary school teachers and that of the local government staff in the state.

In the motion sponsored by the member representing Nkanu West state constituency, Hon. Iloabuchi Aniagu and 10 other members of the House, the lawmakers noted that whereas other civil servants in the state regularly receive their salaries on or before the 25th of every month, the primary school teachers and the local government staff could hardly say when theirs would be paid.

Aniagu disclosed that some councils pay half salaries to her workers while others pay in arrears.

“This is caused by the deductions made on individual LGA’s account based on the number of teachers in that LGA,” he remarked.

Aniagu, therefore, prayed that the state Joint Account Committee, JAC, to structure a unified system of payment where the salaries of primary school teachers and other local government staff in Enugu state, are deducted from a collective pool of all local government allocation before appropriation of the remaining funds are made using the normal ratio of allocation of the respective LGA’s.

Most members of the House supported the motion in but the member representing Oji River state constituency, Hon. Jeff Mba sought for additional prayer that formula is established for the distribution of primary school teachers and LG workers among the 17 council areas based on needs and equity.

Speaker of the Hon. Edward Ubosi had to put the motions into voice votes and was supported by majority members of the house. Ubosi said that the motion will complement the state government’s efforts at paying staff salaries to all civil servants in the state.