Kogi aggrieved COE teachers threaten hunger strike over 3 years unpaid salaries, rejects new appointments

Some senior lecturers of Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa have threatened to go on hunger strike after over three years of unpaid salaries despite being successfully screened.

The aggrieved teachers also rejected while working, fresh appointments from the State government into the institution, having failed to pay their salaries in over three years.

CAPITAL POST recalled that the State government screening for State workforce held in 2018 had stopped salaries of some lecturers in the state College of Education since 2019 who have spent over 15 years in service.

The College management and the State government since then had given fresh appointments to over 100 lecturers and non teaching staff without considering the plight of unpaid lecturers still working for the college.

The unpaid lecturers were deeply involved in the last accreditation exercise of the college that saw all the schools programmes scaled through.

Speculations were rife of the plans of the management and the State government to offer fresh appointments to the affected lecturers, to jettison their arrears of salaries and pensionable years of service to the College.

Similar scenario played out in the State University, Anyigba where about 114 lecturers have taken the state government to industrial court over unilateral sack from the University.

The state Polytechnic Lokoja, College of Education Technical, Kabba and other institutions like College of Nursing Obangede, College of Health Technology, Idah are not left out of the mess created by the last screening exercise of the Yahaya Bello-led administration.